Anime Car Wars: Dueltrack
by Sitting on the Event Horizon
Summary: Koji's company will soon unveil two new robots likely to turn the dueltrack world upside down. But a dawn attack on his star driver, Ikki Tenryo changes everything. Now, Ikki and his friends must save the day, or risk losing Koji and the robots forever.
1. Wednesday

**Welcome to the world...  
**

**where the right of way belongs to those with the biggest guns.  
**

**where killing is ok, as long as its not premeditated.  
**

**where most of the world's food supply is divided into an edible species of algae,  
fruits and vegetables grown in hydroponic vats,  
**

**and an experimental breed of grain made within a small town within the US Midwest  
with the potential to feed the rest of the world.  
**

**where chaos is just a step away from your front door and your own survival depends on  
your wits and weaponry.**

**Welcome to Anime Car Wars...**

* * *

**"****Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me... Going to bed saying we've done something wonderful...that's what matters to me."** - Steve Jobs

**Wednesday - Press conferences and Pre-dawn Pandemonium**

Karakuchi Industries Complex Conference Hall – 12:00 PM, Wednesday

A well-dressed group of people had sat quietly in their respective seats on the temporary stage. All of them were intently listening to Karakuchi Industries' founder and chief executive officer Koji Karakuchi talk about his company's latest breakthrough in the field of robotics.

At least, almost all of them were listening to him.

Koji had stood behind the wooden lectern at the center of the stage. He had spoken through the the fixed height post lectern's microphone that had amplified his voice enough to be heard in the back row.

As he was talking through the wireless mic strapped in his suit's lapel, Koji had sometimes swiveled to his left and used his green laser pointer at the projection interactive white board.

The black haired CEO did this to point out specific parts in the shown images of mechanical and electrical schematics as he explained each one in detail. On the left side of the brown lectern had sat the well-known Karakuchi Dueltrack Racing Team.

From left to right, the Dueltrack Racing Team was (and still is) composed of Ikki Tenryo - driver of the Karakuchi Kobra (the company's duel track race car), crew chief and main mechanic -Tir Mcdohl, assistant mechanic - Riou Sanada, diagnostic technician - Kasumi Mcdohl, and their newly added member - Eilie Hibiki.

Eilie was actually a cybernetic engineer working in the company's laboratories but was re-assigned to the team for still undisclosed reasons.

On the podium's right sat the various vice-presidents of the company and head of the cybernetic laboratories, the president of the software company that Koji had invited just for this specific unveiling, and his beautiful wife, Karin.

The fifty something audience was made up of reporters that ranged from those working in local newspapers to those who have worked in giant news agencies like North American News Service whose 'NANS tickers' are seen in every town in the United States, Canada, and the Free Oil States.

Even some correspondents from Cable News Network (CNN) and other television networks were present in this news worthy event.

At his seat at the furthest left of the stage, Ikki was actually daydreaming as his best friend and now boss extolled the benefits of their newest product. He had thought back to the time when he and Koji were still little kids with a shared dream of becoming big time auto duelling stars.

As it had turned out, Ikki was now making headway on his path toward recognition as the American Automotive Dueling Association's (AADA) top driver while Koji had set up a small electronics company, along with some help from his well-known father - a magnate in the steel industry, that has grown into the giant that it is today.

A sudden nudge from Tir had snapped the duelist out of his rambling thoughts. Ikki then noticed a strange yet familiar three foot yellow robot being carried to the stage by two panting lab assistants through the middle aisle of the small auditorium.

Loud gasps could be heard all across the said auditorium as the audience had gawked at the metallic marvel being paraded before them. The robot had looked a lot like Metabee of the anime Medabots, which was famous decades ago and its syndicated re-runs were still being broadcasted each Saturday morning.

The yellow robot's right arm still carried its signature twin lasers medapart and on its left, the more powerful shotgun medapart. Actually, the weapons were just for show. The real surprise is inside the robot's movable digits and its computer brain.

Within the robot's silver shaded fingers are advanced USB "A" plugs, PS2 connectors and even some old fashioned jack plugs that attach to the readied sockets of the duel car's sensors and car computer. Its computer brain's computer speed is measured in Terra hertz and its memory in gigabytes, at par with the latest personal computers commonly used in offices today.

With these specifications, the beetle like machine could easily run its complete automotive maintenance software along with its own operating system at pretty much the same time without lagging either. Even its ruby shaped golden head that had carried the two fog horn-like launcher tubes for his seeker missiles final attack is successfully replicated.

The only thing different was that Metabee's usual blocky legs were replaced by tracked wheels underneath an almost pyramid-shaped titanium base with the same color as the robot's upper torso.

It had brought tears to Ikki's eyes as he had remembered watching the show as a young boy and now he gets to see a life-size version of his favorite medabot.

"Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce the Maintenance Technical Backer 01 - the newest diagnostic robot from Karakuchi Industries," Koji said with pride as digital cameras started flashing and television cameras also focused their lenses at the unveiled prototype. "My dueltrack racing team will be using the MTB-01 along with a second prototype maintenance robot all this week in the pits."

He then added. "Also my best friend and first duelist to be fully sponsored by my company- Ikki Tenryou will duel with the MTB-01 in the Atlanta Classic this coming Saturday."

"And before I forget, the second prototype robot will be later unveiled by my lovely wife, Karin." Koji said before covering his smile with his right hand at his next choice of words. "The unveiling itself will be scheduled on Monday so we could all concentrate on the upcoming Atlanta Classic. It will also give her enough time to buy an appropriate dress for the occasion."

Karin had hid her reddening cheeks with her unfolded paper fan at her husband's antics on stage.

"Did I hear you right, Mr. Karakuchi? Ikki Tenryo will duel in the Atlanta Classic with the MTB-01?" A news reporter had nearly shouted as the whole auditorium went into an uproar at the words spoken.

"Yes, he will. The MTB-01 is not only a complete diagnostic robot but a formidable gunner as well, " answered Koji, his smile evident in his voice.

After taking a sip of the offered bottled water, he continued. "The same machine to machine protocol that allows it to literally 'plug in' and have the car's computer or sensors to tell it where the problem lies also allows complete control of the firing system which is quicker and more precise than any human gunner. There is no slow human/machine interface; the MTB-01 literally speaks the car's language."

"If that thing is as good as you say it is, why don't you have it drive the car too?" remarked a pink haired female reporter on the third row from the stage. Subdued laughter was now heard among the audience.

Koji had slowly counted to ten while clenching his fists inside the podium's upper cabinet, well hidden from the audience's view. Karin was looking at him worriedly but said nothing. Her lithe hands had clutched her beige skirt's hem in her anxiety.

Eilie, in turn, had glared at the impeccably dressed reporter from her seat which was the nearest to the podium. She was part of the design team that created MTB-01 (affectionately called Metabee by its creators) before her recent transfer to the Dueltrack team and that specific jibe had raised her hackles a lot.

Riou's hands were on her small shoulders in an instant and gave a slight squeeze, calming her down instantly.

He had stood up when the disparaging remark was made and knew he had to calm Eilie down before she would start an ugly argument with the reporter over the unveiled invention.

Both Tir and Kasumi had exchanged knowing looks as they remembered a certain autopilot/gunner software program specially developed for a customized black Trans-Am early in their respective careers. They had briefly wondered what had happened to that car and its then teen-aged owners.

Ikki himself was having mixed feelings about the remark. He was torn between defending his friend and thinking about the benefits of a having a driver-less car for people who could not drive for some reason.

Under this classification are people with various disabilities like blindness, crippled limbs, or in a worst case scenario - those who were paralyzed from the neck down. This invention would also be very useful in case of a freak accident that had only disabled the driver but not the car itself.

"For the same reason that robots haven't replaced reporters yet, Meer." Koji snapped back as he had gotten his temper under control.

"The electronic brain of the MTB-01, like all computers, takes directions very well and executes them flawlessly and blindingly fast," He said with finality. "Yet it lacks creativity and judgment, something that only we humans can posses. MTB-01 or what we informally call Metabee is a breakthrough in cybernetic engineering but it cannot replace human drivers either on the track or on the roads." .

With his speech ended, Koji had returned to his seat where his wife had fussed over him. The crowd had given Koji a standing ovation as Meer Campbell had slumped to her seat in defeat.

As the press conference was winding down, Ikki's thoughts had drifted back to his old neighborhood. He was sure Henry, Rintaro, Zuru, and all his other friends in the old neighborhood would be there in force.

All of them would be cheering loudly for his victory. The only person that he wished would be there cheering for him as well is Arika Amazake, his other childhood friend.

Arika had told him through e-mails that she had found a job in the Atlanta Inquirer as a sports columnist. That means they would only meet in an interview as she would surely be swamped with other interviews from his soon to be opponents. She may even interview the auto duel celebrities hanging around in town to watch the coming event.

It still confused him at first as to why Koji had to pick the Atlanta Classic to unveil his new toys even though both Metabee and Brass were ready three weeks before.

The black haired duelist had later realized that it would be good publicity and maybe some bragging rights for Koji as he would parade his inventions in front of their old friends' collective faces.

-oOo-

A short while later, Kasumi had gently shook Ikki out of his thoughts as the other guests were picking up their respective Manila folders filled with technical reports and heading out the exit. The conference room was now vacant save for the maintenance staff, the Karakuchis, and the Dueltrack team.

"Sorry, guys. I was just thinkin' about something," he said to his smirking friends as he raised his arms and yawned.

"Ikki, the only thing in your thoughts (if there is any) is a certain brunette reporter who is still single by the way." said Koji with a teasing smile before he was hit at the back of his head by his peeved wife.

"What was that for? Everyone knows about it except for those two dum-dums!" Koji yelped as he had rubbed on the sore spot.

"And I would rather leave them to do something about it! " said Karin, shocked at the sometime childishness of her dark haired husband. "Remember, dear. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have been engaged let alone married."

"Ok, ok. I'm really sorry, honey. But at the rate they're going, we'll probably have grand kids by the time they even consider dating." Koji said in reply.

"I'm still here, y' know." said Ikki, his cheeks flushing in both embarrassment and anger at the arguing duo.

"Oops, sorry Ikki." the couple said in unison as they had faced the embarrassed auto duelist.

"Please leave me and Erika out of this. We're both old enough to consider our options," Ikki said as he had suddenly stood up and in the process had accidentally let go of his gray briefcase's handle.

"Do those options have to do with whose house you guys will be doing the horizontal rumba?" said Tir before he too was hit at the back of his head. "Ow."

"Please excuse Mr. Pervert here; he has not been getting some lovin' for the past few days," said Kasumi with a slight smirk as she had held her rolled research papers tightly in her left hand.

The others had a good laugh at Tir's expense with his black haired wife's timely smack.

Although, in truth, everyone except for Tir himself were also secretly grateful for his "out of the blue" joke as it had successfully diffused the now tense atmosphere.

"That's because you and Eilie 'ave been busy with watsername?" said Tir as he had vigorously rubbed his own sore spot and messing up his black hair as he did so.

"Her name is Brass, better known as BRS- 02 (Basic Repair System -02). She will be the first female maintenance robot in the country, maybe even the world. She was the one the boss was referring to when he said that the second prototype maintenance robot will be unveiled by Miss Karin early next week. "

"Eh, seems like a waste of resources to me. How'd you even approve it, boss?" said Tir, ignoring the looks of disgust from the three women as he had looked instead at the brightly painted walls of the conference room. The black haired jester had even marveled at the landscape paintings that were hung there as he looked around the whole room.

"They have a secret weapon, Tir." answered Koji as the women had turned her attention to him. Sweat had flowed freely all over the young businessman's face at the intense glare of the three women especially that of his brown haired wife.

He too looked around the conference room and even tried to whistle a little tune to avoid meeting the women's narrowed eyes and prominent frowns that marred their angelic features. Both Ikki and Riou had shook their heads at their boss' and crew chief's wacky antics.

"I hear ya, boss." Tir replied as he had again averted his gaze from the females in the room.

"So why a female maintenance robot, Kasumi?" said Ikki, his right hand scratching his head as he clutched his fallen briefcase with his other hand.

"Easy, Ikki. Brass is made for the female drivers and mechanics that are either mistrusting or intimidated by Metabee's appearance and harsh voice," answered Kasumi as she and the other girls had calmed down at both the change in subject and sudden interest in their personal project.

"Also, her personality is a mix of a traditional Japanese woman and a modern American one. Thus, she would make a perfect maintenance partner and friend. This would be given even more emphasis with the emotion software upgrade we are developing just for her," added Karin.

"Hmm, no wonder boss man approved it. It would appeal to the female half of the market and maybe even reach out ta those who needed a companion on a lonely road," mused Ikki, as he had turned over the new information in his mind.

"Ikki, you have been hangin' around me for way too long," said Koji as laughter had again echoed throughout the nearly empty room.

"Hey, guys. I know we enjoy each others company and all but don't we have some things to do first?" said Eilie as she was nearing the door.

"Oh, right. Everyone, it's time for us to go to work and for Karin to get her weekly beauty treatment. God knows what she would look like if she didn't have that," said Koji before he had dodged Karin's quick left hook and immediately back pedaled to the opened exit.

The Karakuchi Industries CEO was still facing his angry wife every step of the way as he had continued on his way backwards to the double door leading outside.

"I'm just kidding, honey. You're still the most beautiful woman in the whole wide world to me." Koji said in an attempt to cool down his wife's temper.

"Flattery gets you nowhere, Koji dear." said Karin as she had chased her husband outside, her dainty fists still clenched tightly.

"Let's head back to the repair bay, Kasumi dearest. I'll make us lunch," said Tir as he had escorted his wife out the double door.

"Ok, but remember Gremio's cooking lessons or I will."

"Hey, Riou and Ikki. You guys goin'?" said Eilie as she had peeked into the room; her black hair, styled in a pageboy haircut, almost making contact with her shoulders.

Both men then nodded before they walked briskly across the conference hall's carpeted floor on their way out.

"Just don't do anything I would not do along the way, ok?" said Ikki with a sly wink as he had closed and locked the mahogany double door on his way out.

'Don't worry, Ikki. We won't," answered Riou as he had put his arm around his girlfriend's small waist as they had hugged in the hallway.

Eilie had leaned on her boyfriend's right shoulder and sighed in contentment as they had walked back to the Kobra's repair bay, now joined at the hip.

Neither the researcher nor the mechanic had cared about the mischievous looks and half-hearted jeers given to them by their amused co-workers they had met along the way.

-oOo-

Ikki had followed the rest of the team but he had first made two quick side. The first one was at the janitor's room to return the key that he had borrowed and the second was at the line of vending machines in the front lobby for a quick snack.

Unfortunately for him, the duelist had met a few of the press people (including a local TV station reporter and his camera man) that were also present in the just concluded unveiling of Metabee taking a break at the said lobby.

This had led to a quick Q & A session (in the lobby's sitting area) that included questions on what would be his game plan to win the Atlanta Classic and if he would use Metabee to ensure his victory there.

A few of the more brazen ones had even asked if Ikki had a special someone to whom he would dedicate his would-be victory. The duelist had deflected these kinds of personal questions in a professional manner while wearing a fake smile.

Ikki had also bit back all the harsh words he was about to say or risk embarrassing the team, the company he represents, and himself to the world.

The duelist had encountered these kinds of questions before from fans and local reporters alike and he was hard pressed to tell them to shove off and leave his personal life alone.

Thankfully, Tir and Riou knew when to back him up in the interviews and had even taught the professional racer on how to smile when he really did not want to as they had sat around in their trailer en-route to their next race.

-oOo-

When he arrived in the Kobra's personal repair bay thirty minutes later, Ikki had found even more journalists from the electronic or science publications like Popular Science and Popular Mechanics.

This was a mixed blessing to the pit crew and Ikki himself since they themselves subscribe to the said magazines for research purposes.

Plus, the contributors from the various racing and automotive magazines(as well as the persistent TV crew) who had followed Ikki from the lobby after their brief Q & A session, had joined the racing team later from the hallway as soon as the Karakuchis had entered.

The media men were earlier delayed by two burly and well armed security guards (both of the said guards were stationed at the hallway leading to the repair bay) who had asked for their passes in order to enter the hallway itself.

The hallway is usually off limits to non-personnel but special passes were given to those who were approved by the companies' six vice presidents and Koji himself.

Thanks to the delay, four tabloid reporters who had missed the earlier conference joined them.

The media men had made their way around this problem by politely requesting for a second interview as Ikki had not answered all the given questions before he left. One reporter had even tearfully added that his flight back to New Orleans was scheduled that very afternoon.

The portly man did not even have enough time to apply for the pass, get the interview, and catch the airship before it leaves. He only had enough fare for a round-trip ticket as he had explained his plight to the confused guards. The said guards had caved in from the sob story and reluctantly let the reporter in.

Unfortunately, the guards' kind action had caused an uproar among the remaining group. All of them were saying that all of them were entitled to enter, not just one of them.

One of the nervous guards had called for his superior who in turn had called the security chief on what would be the best course of action.

The buck passing had continued on until Koji, who was escorting his now calm wife to their white Cadillac DTS limousine, was paged by his secretary on the company's public address system.

Koji had gone to the nearest intercom unit and told the security chief to have the guards bring the media men to the repair bay's door and hold them there until he and Karin arrive.

Karin sighed as she had called her favorite salon to reschedule her appointment to five in the afternoon.

The couple had run back to Koji's office and picked up as many pamphlets and transparencies as they could carry.

The black haired company President had also left further instructions to his secretary that the overhead projector and its accompanying mobile screen be carried to the repair bay immediately as he was exiting his office.

-oOo-

All of the journalists then interviewed the now flustered pit crew and driver as well as the newly arrived Karakuchis. Each one was looking for a scoop on the inner workings of both robots, the duel track car or even all three.

It was here that the BRS-02 was also first seen and photographed or shown on television albeit accidentally.

As soon as the audio-visual equipment were set in place and powered up, Karin had started her lecture about the capabilities of BRS-02 as the unit itself was placed in full view of the audience.

She was followed by Eilie who then discussed the more technical details of the BRS series prototype and Koji who had talked about its usefulness to its would-be customers who were either listening to the radio or watching TV.

There was a even a little demonstration of both maintenance robots' capabilities, which had elicited loud cheers from the crowd gathered.

To everyone who saw it, BRS-02 actually looked a lot like Brass from the Medabots series especially with her pink bow above her chest plate but like MTB-01, she too ran on tracked wheels underneath a silver-coated base.

Her revolver cannon medaparts (installed on both arms) were also just for show as she had shared the same computer brain, connectors, and maintenance software as her male counterpart.

An unscrupulous tabloid reporter even had gone as far as trying to get some gossip material on the pit crew and Karakuchis but was carried (and thrown haphazardly) outside the company's gates by two of the company's beefy security guards.

Another had tried to figure out the "inner workings" of Eilie but was personally given the boot by an angry Riou.

After an hour of the impromptu press conference, it was finally over. The rest of the reporters had left for their respective publications or TV stations as they have now gotten their scoops.

The journalists in the print media had to compile their hastily scribbled notes to meet their nearing deadlines while those in the video media were already called to cover other events nearby.

A tired Koji had told his secretary to re-schedule all his afternoon meetings for tomorrow morning and to take any incoming calls as he would take the rest of the afternoon off with his lovely wife.

It was only after everyone else had left that the team had finally changed to their greasy overalls and Ikki, his rumpled dark red race suit.

-oOo-

The pit crew and Ikki had spent the rest of the day on calibrating the power plant, active suspensions and differential of the Karakuchi Kobra. The girls had also made some final software debugging on both Metabee's and Brass' computer brains.

The Karakuchi Kobra's gleaming body is similar in design to Formula One racers of today. The only difference is the addition of a weapon port and a turret for shooting at its competition in the hopes of knocking them out.

In addition, its small dashboard was supplemented by a high resolution targeting computer, weapons switches, and ammunition indicators.

The pit crew had also added a special compartment between the driver seat and the power plant where Metabee would be "plugged in" to the car's weapon systems. Only his seeker missile launch tubes would be seen just behind the turreted Vulcan machine gun.

All of these were done while answering more questions from various reporters who just arrived from the Fulton County Airfield -Brown Field and had missed both the first and second press conferences and was now making up for lost time.

-oOo-

By eight in the evening, everyone in the pits was dog tired and eager to head home. They had agreed to do the rest of the maintenance work the following day.

A slumping Ikki then headed straight for his black Porsche 997 GT3 (Night Hawk). The said sports car was armed with two .50 caliber machine guns in its front grille and a pulse laser on its roof pop up turret.

It was called the Night Hawk because it has shared with its namesake (the F-117 stealth fighter) the latter's stealth capabilities. This said ability had made it hard to track down on the targeting computer and much harder to detect on radar.

The uneventful ride back to the hotel had given Ikki enough time to contemplate a bit but was his mind was too fuzzy for any coherent thought to come through.

As he drove, Ikki had absentmindedly turned on the car's CD player and the opening bars of **"One Night in Bangkok" **by **Murray Head **were heard from the car's speakers. The racer had smiled as the song finally registered in his head as it relaxes him somehow .

As the duelist had listened to the song itself, he then cleared his cluttered thoughts. Ikki still did not know whether it was the lyrics or the catchy melody that relaxed him. Maybe it was both as the spoken lyrics are quite funny and the melody is enticing enough to dance with.

With his mind now refreshed, Ikki once again had thought about the pros and cons of having Metabee and Brass with him in the pits and in the race course.

It was expected that a lot of people would be put off by the existence of two robots that not only helped maintain his dueltrack machine but either one may also double as its gunner in the race itself.

Some people would actually even consider it as a form of electronic cheating. On the other hand, those two prototypes may become the revolutionary gadgets that would change the world of Dueltrack forever.

-oOo-

The duelist had arrived in Marriott Marquis Hotel at around nine pm. After taking his room keys from the counter, Ikki had headed up to his fourth floor Studio Suite room.

As he arrived in his room, Ikki had gone to the room's luxurious bathroom for a hot shower and a soothing sonic rubdown, the latter to dry his body while giving him a needed massage.

After Ikki had changed to his usual nightwear (a white T-shirt and boxers), he had briefly inspected the nearly hidden security devices installed in the room before heading for his bed.

-oOo-

A sudden noise had awakened Ikki an hour before sun up. He groggily opened his eyes only to see a shadowy figure about to stab him. Thinking quickly, he had surprised the intruder with surprise jab to the latter's midsection.

His right fist had risen with the double blanket covering it towards the point of impact.

The intruder had dropped the knife he was holding as he had doubled over, clutching his sore stomach. The thief had staggered weakly to the door, visibly wincing through his latex mask while still clutching his aching belly.

Ikki had tried to chase him but had gotten caught up trying to remove the two blankets the duelist had used to cover himself with the night before. This had given the intruder the needed time to escape down the hall.

By the time the duelist exited his room, the intruder was already long gone. Only an open window at the left end of the hallway, with a grappling hook hanging at its windowsill, had served as proof of the would-be assassin's escape act.

A disappointed Ikki had returned to his room only to find a matchbook on the carpeted floor just outside his door. On its pale green cover were the words "Poison Ivy Bar & Grill.

The duelist had picked up the matchbook and returned to his room where he had found a nasty looking Bowie knife on the floor near his bed with a note beside it.

It was only when he returned to the room that he had shivered from the chill as he left the air conditioning system running for too long.

The note said: "Stop working on both the MTB-01 and BRS-02 or the next knife won't miss." Ikki was about to fold the note and place it in his briefcase when he had heard some gentle knocking on his door. Ikki had put on the hotel's cotton robe before he opened the door.

Outside, two men in dark blue uniformed suits with neckties were waiting for the duelist, one of them was holding the grappling hook he had seen earlier. The taller one spoke first as he had flashed his ID.

"Hotel Security, Mr. Tenryo. Someone called about a fight or something."

Ikki had let them in and gently closed the door. After they had sat down in the lounge chairs near the door, the duelist explained what had happened earlier prompting the second plain clothes man holding the steel hook to give it his partner.

The detective had contacted the hotel's phone operator through the room's desk. Being informed of the whole situation, she had called Atlanta's Finest immediately.

* * *

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the next installment of the Anime Car Wars series, Dueltrack. Both Ikki and Riou were already introduced in the closing paragraphs of the final chapter of Bitch: Anime Car Wars style.

Now you have just met the rest of the gang and even got a glimpse of this fanfic's plot in this chapter's closing paragraphs.

The black Trans-Am both Tir and Kasumi were thinking about earlier is the Saotomes' Hauberk Custom featured in both Fuel's Gold and Bitch: Anime Car Wars Style.

Also since this is an alternate universe to both Medabots and Suikoden series, the characters' personalities are a bit different from canon. If anything, this is the only weakness in the Anime Car Wars series that will remain until the very end.

The only way that I can go around this is to introduce some personality quirks and/or interesting facts for each character to make them as close to canon as I can get.

Auditorium - the area of theater or concert hall where the audience sits. (fan fiction dot net dictionary)

I would like to thank Nesha1 for helping me with locations and other necessary information about her hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. This city of Coca-Cola and CNN will be the setting of the story from start to finish.

I also would like to thank the members/posters (especially Darren White and Maiafey) and the moderator of "The Furnace" forum for providing writing tips for novices like myself.

I do not own Medabots, Gundum Seed Destiny, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Car Wars, the song "One Night in Bangkok", and the City of Atlanta. I do own a few issues of the magazines though since I also use them for my own research. I do not own Genso Suikoden either.

For those curious at what's coming up in the next chapter, here's a little sneak preview:

* * *

The second technician moved to one side so that his companion could move a bit to weld a still loosened arm. In their jostling, Ikki had seen what they had been working on - an exact replica of Metabee.

After a few minutes, the first technician had stopped welding and Ikki had backed himself against the wooden crates, praying to the heavens he would not be seen.

* * *

Feel free to criticize me if I did anything wrong here besides what I pointed out earlier. Reviews are good but I need constructive criticism.

And in that note, this long A/N is now closed for business until the next chapter. Have a nice day.


	2. Thursday

If you guys are reading this, then you must have liked the previous chapter. This chapter now shows what steps the Karakuchi Dueltrack Racing Team will be making to figure out the masterminds behind the pre-dawn attack on Ikki's hotel room last chapter.

I had also made three main characters from The Vision of Escaflowne appear here as they would play important (yet intermittent) roles from this chapter onward.

This chapter will have also some action both on and off the streets as the pressure is mounting for Ikki and the rest of the Karakuchi Dueltrack Racing team to solve the mystery before the race even begins on Saturday.

Arkari - Don't worry. I'll add one more in this chapter but he's from the second season (Kilobots). Four more characters would be added in the next chapter and Ikki's old gang who are also characters of the said anime would also be showing up in the last chapter.

I am sorry, but there will be no appearances of the Rubber Robos, Dr. Meda-Evil, Nae, and Dr. Aki since I could not fit any of them into the story itself.

The misspelling of the duel track racing vehicle's name is deliberate because the first letter of the vehicle should be the same as the company's name. I only followed Mr. Scott Haring's (author of Dueltrack) way of naming the duel track car.

Be warned as there will be brief mentions of death and blood in this chapter though it is still not enough to push the ratings to M.

Of course, I do not own Medabots, Suikoden, The Vision of Escaflowne, Car Wars, and other stuff mentioned here.

The locations that are mentioned here are actually real places in Atlanta except for the Poison Ivy Bar & Grill, Karakuchi Industries, and KamTech Industries.

Those last three locations are fictional places borrowed from the game book with the latter two renamed for the purpose of this fan fiction.

Legend: ' ' are thoughts, " " are speech, ( ) are either mini A/Ns or words included in actual speech but may impede the dialogue. Words in **bold** are quotes, chapter titles, song titles and the artists singing them.

So sit tight and enjoy the show...

* * *

**"Hello, square one, nice to meet you again**.**"** - **Veronica Mars **

**Thursday - Meetings and Midnight Mayhem**

Marriott Marquis Hotel - 7:00 AM, Thursday

As soon as the two hotel detectives had left the room, Ikki had left both the note and the matchbook beside the video phone on the small cabinet beside his bed.

Afterwards, he had taken a leaf of bond paper from his briefcase to pick up the knife and place it in between both items.

Only then did the duelist had taken a hot shower, followed by yet another sonic rubdown, and a quick shave before changing into his green Lacrosse polo shirt, tan slacks, and brown leather shoes with gray socks. Ikki had also ordered an American full breakfast, which he ate in his room.

After an hour, a police detective named Folken Fanel had arrived in the room with two uniformed police officers in tow, a black haired young male and the other a light brown headed female.

Folken had introduced one of the two officers as his younger brother, Van and the other officer as Van's fiancée, Hitomi Kanzaki.

Folken seemed to be the oldest of the three at twenty nine years old with cropped lime green hair and worry lines creasing his forehead, a sign of the eight years he has spent in the force.

As for the other two, they seemed to be twenty two years of age and pretty much joined at the hip.

As Ikki was explaining the situation, he had tried to hide his envy at how the two younger police officers had communicated with their eyes to avoid asking Ikki at the same time. He then picked up the three items and gave them to each of the three investigators.

The three police officers had now worn their plastic gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints on the evidences. Folken had examined the match book and gave the rest of the clues to his junior partners.

All three items were dusted for finger prints and carefully examined for creases, scratches (on the knife) or anything out of the ordinary.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Tenryou but this Bowie knife is common enough to be bought in Cabela's Adairsville branch up north," Van said as he had placed the Bowie knife in an evidence bag.

"The same can be said for this paper note. The letters looked as if it was neatly typewritten on the note and I found no finger prints (other than yours, Mr. Tenryou) on it. It would seem that this guy is a real professional," Hitomi added as she had placed the note in a separate plastic evidence bag.

"He has ta be," quipped Van, excited at having his first high profile case and with Hitomi and Folken. "He has easily disabled this hotel room's entire security system. These things are top-notch and tough ta override. He probably has some fancy tools to disable this system without leaving any traces, electronic or otherwise."

"Yes, I believe so too. Take a look at this, everyone. The Poison Ivy is a notorious Bannon hideout hidden in plain sight," said Folken, as he had showed the opened match book to the other three.

"Bannon? I have never heard of him, Mr. Fanel." said Ikki, scratching his head in confusion.

"Sorry for not telling you, Mr. Tenryou. The Bannon syndicate handles all the illegal sports betting in this part of Georgia. We'll check on this lead right away but I cannot make any promises. These guys are real slick. We cannot pin anything on them, especially without more evidence to back it up."

Ikki nodded and had taken the given opportunity to surreptitiously memorize its address for later use.

"Well, Mr. Tenryou. May I call you Ikki?" Folken said as he had held out his callused hand.

"Yes, and may I call you three - Folken, Van, and Hitomi?" Ikki replied as he had clasped Folken's large hand and shook it.

"Of course. It would be an honor for us especially Van since he's a long time fan of yours," The older man said with a stifled laugh.

"Not funny, big brother."

As they were talking, Ikki had scribbled something in the hotel's blank notepad that was placed near the phone.

"Ha ha ha. Well then, please accept this autographed hotel note. It's not much but it's all I have at the moment," Ikki said as he had given the uniformed police officer the said note, which was accepted gratefully.

The three police officers had turned to leave with the evidence at hand.

"Goodbye, Ikki."

"We'll crack this case before you know it, Ikki."

"Please keep in touch, Ikki." Folken added as he had given the duelist his calling card as he went out behind the other two.

-oOo-

An hour later, Ikki himself had left his hotel room for his car that is parked in the hotel's underground garage. Along the way, he was greeted by the hotel staff and even asked for an autograph by the maids, the bellboys, and the concierge of the hotel.

By the time Ikki had reached his car, his fingers were worked to the bone from writing so many autographs.

After a few minutes of exercising his fingers, he had entered his car and left for the arena in Rosewood at the corner of McDonough Blvd SE and Sawtell St SE.

-oOo-

As the duelist had arrived in the arena's McDonough gate, a mob of fans, reporters and well-wishers were there eagerly awaiting him.

Security in the said gate had a hard time moving the people out the way of the Night Hawk's path partly due to its numbers and mostly due to the stubbornness of some of the fans to even budge.

The rest of the day went by quickly as Ikki had tested the Kobra's maneuverability through a virtual race track with Kasumi's help.

The Indy car's vehicle computer was earlier connected to the pit's mainframe by the said technician and each move that Ikki had made in the driver seat was reflected in the large screen in front of him.

Both Metabee and Brass were also connected to the vehicle computer's secondary ports and they had vocally reported power plant performance and other vital information taken directly from the car's mechanical sensors.

With each virtual test drive, the mechanics had gotten busy replacing axles, wheelbases, power plant components, brakes, clutches and even parts of the car's wings and spoilers to maximize the Kobra's racing performance.

By four in the afternoon, all of the pit crew except for the Metabee and Brass were called in to report at the Karakuchi Industries third floor conference room at exactly five o'clock in the afternoon.

Most of the pit crew had taken this news with loud groans as they were already exhausted from work.

Nevertheless, they had stowed their respective equipment and left the pit. The robots themselves were carried to their storage facilities in the said pit to be kept from would be industrial thieves and spies.

-oOo-

By 4:45 PM, the convoy of a black Mitsubishi GTO Spider (Soul Eater) , a metallic green Ford Taurus (Green Whirlwind), a gray Nissan Altima (Sword and Shield), and the Porsche 997 GT3 (Night Hawk) had arrived at their assigned parking spaces in the Karakuchi industrial complex.

The whole Karakuchi Duel track team were in full attendance in the board room at seven minutes after five o'clock.

As the team had entered the spacious board room, they had seen the frowning face of their boss, Koji as he sat in his seat at the farthest end of the conference table.

"I hate threats," Koji said to his assembled and sitting pit crew. "Only cowards make threats. And I know one person who is cowardly enough to do it – Kam Kamazaki."

"The Kam Kamazaki, our rival company's owner and CEO?"

"Yes, I always knew that snake in the grass was up to no good. Now he's trying to scare us from showing Metabee's hidden abilities in the Atlanta Classic," answered Koji, as he had wrung his hands in anxiety.

"Maybe we should report this to the police, boss. I mean, it is their job to arrest people." quipped Eilie, fearful on who would be their next target.

"Not if we have solid evidence that he had ordered that attack," countered Tir, more fearful of his wife's safety then of his own.

"Tir has a point, honey. We have to prove that Kam did order that attempt on Ikki's life or he will humiliate us for sure," Karin said as she had given her husband a pointed look.

Ikki had suddenly gasped but only Riou had heard him since everyone else was busy talking about the dangerous situation they had found themselves in.

The mechanic had tapped Ikki's shoulder and mouthed "what's wrong" but the duelist simply shook his head and replied "later".

"Hmm...you're right, my dear. We may have to do some detective work ourselves to nail that bastard and his hired henchmen."

"Wait a minute. Aren't there other individuals or companies involved in this plot, sir?" said Kasumi, trying to make sure they were not led on a merry chase.

"For now, we're not even sure on who or what is really behind this so we may have to start with what we do know." said Koji as he had drawn a plastic card from his brown wallet.

"Ikki, here is my company money card. You're the only one who can do the roadwork part of the job while the rest of us use the internet and our own connections to find out who is responsible for your early morning attack."

"Thanks a lot, chief. I'll get on it as soon as I eat."

"How about we all eat out? It will be my treat," said Koji to the cheers of the pit crew.

-oOo-

After arriving in a well-known restaurant in Lennox Square, the Karakuchi couple and the duel track team were eating a fancy dinner where they had small talk about various topics. This was done to prevent information leaks and even doubled as a pressure reliever.

By 7:00 PM, the owners and crew had finished eating and said their farewells to each other.

Ikki had taken a minute to get a hard copy of the Atlanta Inquirer from its computer terminal to read while he was staking out the main office of KamTech Industries in Sandy Springs a few miles up north.

Along the way, Ikki had once again turned over the information he has so far while listening to the CD player now tuned in to the local radio stations. Kam Kamazaki is Koji's bitter rival in the high stakes electronics industry.

If anyone had a motive to scare Karakuchi Industries to keep the MTB and BRS projects under wraps, it is Kam.

-oOo-

By the time, Ikki had finished his musings; he found out that he was now a hundred meters away from the front gate.

From what he could see through his night vision binoculars, the entire complex was surrounded by a chain link fence with what looks like sound and motion sensors attached to it.

In addition, a group of guards either on foot with flashlights and search dogs or on armored trikes were seen doing the rounds just outside the fence.

The plant had only one main gate and it too was heavily guarded. An armored concrete guard house straddled the gate with another bunker on the main road's left shoulder further in.

A single guard had checked IDs of the entering and exiting personnel just outside the gate with two more guards hidden inside. Two tire traps were placed right below the steel pikes and a heavy rocket was installed in each pike's middle length.

Ikki had to whistle at how formidable the security at Kam's industrial headquarters really is. He led his car around the complex to look for a clearing wide enough and dark enough to hide the vehicle from sight.

He had found one near the southwestern corner of the complex and consequently parked the Night Hawk there.

Ikki then neared the darkened portion of the fence to study the sensors only to find out that he could easily disable them since they were a Karakuchi model.

The duelist had disabled the sensors in a matter of minutes armed with only his trusty pliers. After the sensors were made off-line, Ikki lost no time in vaulting the fence after he dropped the pliers in the ground.

As soon his feet had hit the concrete ground with a soft thump, Ikki ran to a stack of crates near a slightly ajar titanium door. The crates further inside had made shadows that successfully hid the duelist from view as he had entered the deserted building.

After a few minutes, the duelist had walked carefully through the nearly deserted complex. His black irises had darted back and forth, searching for trouble and the closest hiding spot.

-oOo-

After half an hour searching the premises, Ikki had stumbled upon a workshop that seems to be lighted and the tell-tale sound of an arc welder being used.

From his vantage point behind a series of barrels, he had seen four men through the opened door. One of them was shown to be burlier than the others.

Under cover of darkness made by the arc welder's sparks, Ikki again had hid himself in a pile of crates within the workshop and watched the said men.

Three of the men were studying something placed on a work bench while a fourth had leaned on a wooden crate looking bored. Two of the men had also worn technician's lab coats while the third man with the technicians was Kam Kamazaki himself.

The bored large man was Kam's bodyguard who was now spinning his gun just to amuse himself.

One of the technicians was currently using an arc welder and when the tool's sparks had illuminated parts of the workshop, Ikki was able to sneak into the darker parts of the workshop and hide behind some steel crates.

"Is it finished?" said Kam, as he had began to lose his patience at the delay caused by the painstakingly long finishing touches of the said technician's work.

The other technician had sighed as he flipped a page of the orange morocco folder he was reading in the low light. His back had stiffened a bit against the steel bench he was sitting on when he heard the condescending tone his boss had used on his fellow researcher.

The bodyguard just wished he could get this over with and go home.

"I-in a mi-minute, sir. We still have to ensure that that the end result is a perfect likeness," answered the first technician, his trembling voice betraying his fear.

"That fool, Koji."said Kam, his large forehead going up and down in his megalomaniac laughter. "He had to put that robot in front of the cameras just to show it off. Then again, I did save a bundle by not going after its blueprints anyway. ha ha ha. "

The second technician had moved to one side so that his companion could move a bit to weld a still loosened arm of their newly made creation. In their jostling, Ikki had seen what they were working on – an exact replica of Metabee.

After a few minutes, the first technician had stopped welding and Ikki had backed himself against the steel crates, praying to the heavens that he would not be seen.

"It is done, Mr. Kamizuki. We now have a reasonable facsimile of the MTB-01," said the first technician as he put away the welding machine.

"Excellent, excellent." Kam said as he had stopped his pacing on the concrete floor some distance away from the work bench. "We cannot just steal MTB -01 without an exact duplicate to allay any suspicion."

Kam then faced the second technician and looked at him square in the eye as he said. "Are you sure that this will fail miserably like I told you?"

"Ye-yes, sir. We're close but the Karakuchi's lab rats have some sort of breakthrough." The first scientist replied quickly. "This robot (taps the robot's left "horn" with a technical pen) cannot do half the things they claim the original can. When we do get the MTB-01 to our labs, I'll figure out why."

"Well then, get this tin can in my car right away." Kam had ordered the two technicians. "We're going to the Karakuchi pits and make the switch tonight."

"But boss since we will come across a guard, how will I know which one to grab?" said the bodyguard as he had scratched his head.

Kam had hit the burly man on the head with his rolled up red morocco folder in reply.

"It's easy, you moron. Right here, under the serial plate is a small K-120 in a box. When this thing goes on the fritz, Koji will tear it apart and see it. Only then, will he know that I have outsmarted him again." Kam said before he had once again laughed maniacally.

The bodyguard had sweat dropped a bit before joining his boss in laughter.

Ikki had seen and heard enough. He had spun from his hiding place, drawing his trusty .44 Desert Eagle from his shoulder holster in the process. His first shot had hit Kam's left thigh, surprising the dark haired millionaire and making him drop to his knees in pain.

The bodyguard had returned fire as Kam had regained enough of his bearings to limp to the emergency exit some distance to his right.

Bang!

A second shot had hit the technician with the robot in the side, making him let go of his precious cargo. The robot had skidded a bit on the concrete floor with some sparks just before it was picked up by the other technician who was still unharmed.

The two technicians had escaped although one was obviously in pain as he held his bleeding side.

The bodyguard, meanwhile, continued to exchange fire with the partly covered duelist. Bullets had ricocheted of the steel crates where Ikki hid, making small sparks as they do so and filling the concrete walls and wooden crates on the other end of the workshop with holes as the gunfight continued unabated.

The black haired duelist had tried to hit the escaping technicians and Kam but was kept busy dodging the shots fired by the retreating bodyguard.

In the end, all four men had escaped with only two being slightly injured in the firefight. Alarms were also sounded through out the compound.

Hearing the alarms, Ikki had turned on his booted heel and ran back to where he had secretly entered the compound.

Luckily for the him, most of the guards that had arrived remained to protect Kam from further attacks. The remaining few had spread out in the hopes of catching the unwanted visitor by surprise.

-oOo-

Ikki had found one of the latter group jogging to the spot where he had overrode the sensor. Loud footsteps had clued him in to the guard's arrival.

"Talk about being on borrowed time," Ikki muttered to himself as he had quietly gone to a nearby gray down pipe with its lower half almost detached from the sturdier upper half.

He had easily broken off the lower half and tiptoed to the building's corner with the gray pipe held in both hands.

As soon as Ikki had seen his target's head poking out of the corner, he had struck him with the storm pipe's gray length as it were a plastic club with holes on both ends.

Foom!

The guard had gone down like an newly cut oak from the force of the blow, his forehead and face soaked in blood.

"Sorry, pal. It's either you or me," Ikki said as he had dropped the pipe length with a clank.

Ikki then quickly climbed the fence and ran for his hidden car. He had also stopped for a second to pick up his dropped pliers.

A few minutes later, Ikki had escaped to the busy city streets thankful for the car's stealth ability and his own driving abilities to lose whatever tail Kam's flunkies had given him with.

-oOo-

As soon as he had found a well lighted street corner, Ikki had parked the car, pulled his Nokia N70 cellular phone from his right pocket, and dialed Koji's number. The duelist told his boss everything that he saw and heard in the workshop.

"Alright, meet me and Riou at the arena pits in an hour. Hold them there until we arrive with back up, ok?" was Koji's excited reply.

"It sounds like you don't trust me, Koji."

"That's because I know you well enough to try to take them on by yourself. Therefore, my advice is not to even think about it so you can be a big hero. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Father." Ikki said with a sigh as he had closed the line, thereby cutting off his best friend's reprimands that had included some swear words.

The Night Hawk had taken off in a squeal of tires, taking the shortest route to the arena.

-oOo-

Half an hour later, Ikki had arrived at the arena gate. The gate itself was already opened and the security guards that had been assigned there were missing.

Fearing the worst, the duelist had guided his car to the pit area two hundred meters away from the gate and hidden from plain view.

To his horror, he had seen two idling cars (a Ford Taurus and a Lexus IS 350) without license plates parked in front of the Karakuchi's pit. The huge sliding doors were slightly opened, enough for a person to enter and exit quickly.

The idling cars were facing away from the pit, their drivers talking quietly to each other through their opened windows.

Unfortunately for Ikki, one of the drivers had spotted the Night Hawk's dusty nose, as the latter car had rounded the corner, and fired a warning shot that holed the corner wall instead.

The Night Hawk had immediately backed out to the arena's visitor parking lot with the two Kamazaki duel cars chasing it.

.50 caliber bullets and recoilless rifle rounds fired from the chasing cars had cratered the concrete roadway, holed the barbwire fences and felled the young trees planted in the plant boxes.

Ikki had retaliated with his vehicle's weapons and got some crucial hits on both cars. The first car had its headlights blown off and hood splattered with hot lead, knocking out its machine guns.

Its power plant was hit enough times to be disabled but the damage was not enough to cause an explosion.

The second cart had its power plant blown off by the Night Hawk's more powerful pulse laser and was out of the fight quickly. Its hood had caved in at the power plant's controlled explosion while ejecting some armor around it.

The Night Hawk had also taken some damage mostly to its front and top armor but it was still drivable

The drivers of both cars had exited their cars and ran for their lives, screaming like madmen. Within five minutes, they had disappeared into the dark alleyways never to be heard of again.

-oOo-

By ten-thirty pm (fifteen minutes after the fight had ended), the Sword and Shield had arrived at the gate followed by Koji's personal car – a metallic blue Ford Taurus with two lasers in front and a recoilless rifle on its turret (Tiger Claws).

Koji had hand signaled his best friend to follow them to the pits.

As the convoy had rounded the corner, they had seen nothing except the still opened pit door. Ikki had just finished reading the hard copy of the Atlanta Inquirer and was now stowing it in the glove compartment.

The three vehicles had stopped and seven Karakuchi security guards filed out from both the Tiger Claws and Sword and Shield. All of them had drawn and readied their M-4 assault rifles and surrounded the entrance.

"Attention, eunuchs! Come out with your hands in the air! Your cars are destroyed and we got you surrounded. The police are on their way to pick you up and bring you to a nice jail cell," said Koji through his car's built in loudspeakers.

Both Riou and Ikki had covered their faces in shame at Koji's horrible way of scaring the intruders inside the pit to surrender.

The security guards had shaken their heads at the embarrassing display. Koji did not notice any of this since he had thought that his amplified threat was enough to scare the intruders to submission.

"Screw you, bug fearing loser! We got two security guards in here and we won't hesitate to kill 'em!" answered a gruff and loud voice from within the pit.

"That's it! Men, storm the place now!" Koji roared in his rage.

The two security guards nearest the door had thrown flash grenades and smoke grenades inside before they had all entered, two at a time.

After a brief scuffle, all the remaining Karakuchi goons were escorted outside in handcuffs, the arena security guards were freed and Metabee was given a once over by Riou along with the bad copy.

"I've got a bone to pick with you, Tenryou." said Koji as he had gotten off his car and marched to the parked Night Hawk.

"Save it, chief. I was jus' joking earlier and it wasn't my fault that they attacked me," Ikki replied as he now leaned over his car's opened driver side door.

"That may be true, Ikki but you still should have waited for us before making your move," said Koji as he had stopped marching and just crossed his arms.

"Aw, c'mon chief. If I did, then one of 'em would have escaped in the ensuing melee."

"Alright. I admit you're right on that count too, Ikki but that doesn't change the fact that we were worried about you. Hell, I even lied to Arika when she had called up Karin and I at home while you were out investigating the Kamazaki premises."

"Eh? What did she say?" asked the duelist as he had stood at attention upon hearing his crush's name.

"She was planning on interviewing you tonight at your hotel room but we told her that you were busy at the pits along with Tir and the others," answered Koji, clearly enjoying the startled reaction of his best friend.

"I'm just glad that she didn't go to the pits to meet 'us' there," Ikki said as he had let out a sigh of relief.

"Me too. Oh good, the police are here."

As Koji had correctly remarked, two dark blue Dodge Charger police cruisers of the Atlanta police force- Night Division had arrived in the pit area. Their flashing lights and shrill sirens had brought mixed reactions to Koji, Ikki and Riou.

On one hand, the police would take over the investigation and bring the prisoners to jail. On the other hand, a paparazzo would be alerted by the obvious sign of police and may blow the whole case wide open for the public to see.

This may then tip the hand of the real culprits and make the whole investigation more difficult than necessary.

The police had interviewed Koji, Riou, and Ikki before they had headed for the goons taken prisoner. After fifteen minutes of interrogation, the lead officer on scene had gone to where Koji and Ikki were standing as his men had brought the prisoners to the cruisers.

The K-120 likewise was placed in the trunk of the second cruiser as further evidence.

"Which one of those knuckleheads had attacked me early this morning, Lieutenant?" asked Ikki, eager to punch the guilty one's lights out.

"Actually, I was hoping you knew. From what we gathered, there was no mention of your early morning attack but rather a lot of shenanigans including a few that we didn't even know about."

"That one (nodding to the first goon to be placed inside backseat of the Lieutenant's cruiser) is Kam's main toady who leads these 'extra-curricular activities' and he says he did not have anything to do with the fracas in your room. He may be lying but I don't think he has a reason to be. The person you're looking for is probably somebody else."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. We'll take it from here," said Koji as he patted the police lieutenant at the back.

As the police had left, Koji turned to Ikki and told him to go to bed. The latter had complied and headed for his car. Riou then tried to catch up to ask the duelist about his behavior in the meeting earlier but Koji held him back.

Riou then explained to his boss about the said incident only to be told that Koji would ask Ikki himself about it when they meet the next day.

-oOo-

As the Night Hawk was passing through a dimly lighted block of Juniper St, it was ambushed by a dark blue Mitsubishi Eclipse (Black Widow). Ikki was so surprised by the sudden appearance of the Black Widow that he was not able to escape when he had the chance.

Two simultaneously launched rockets had blasted a trash can and a display window of a dress store while a recoilless rifle round had damaged the Night Hawk's rear armor and spoiler.

Thankfully, the projectiles were not powerful enough to break through the 80 mm thick armor to reach the Night Hawk's power plant behind it.

"Come and get me, you little weasel." muttered Ikki as he had driven his car in between a narrow ally. After some tight maneuvering, the Night Hawk had emerged at the other side with some minor scratches on its paint job and had its right side view mirror torn off its hinges.

"Try to get through that," he gloated on the radio.

The Eclipse did emerge from the same alley but with a busted headlight, two torn side-view mirrors and some damage to its side armors.

The two duel cars had continued their deadly game of cat and mouse as they traded rockets and laser beams.

Yet Ikki was clearly winning since his pulse laser had already damaged one of the rocket launchers and even got some critical hits on the pursuer's power plant.

40mm Rockets had blasted the road on each side of the Night Hawk and even destroyed a fire hydrant and yet another trash can on both sides of the street. Only a few rifle rounds was able to do damage, mostly on the lead car's already battered rear armor.

After a few more dead on shots, the Black Widow's power plant had blown up. Its powerful explosion had sprung the hood onto the windshield and ejecting the front end of the car to the street.

The power plant itself had caved in as the car skidded to the sidewalk and collided with yet another fire hydrant.

Treated water had gushed from the hydrant's damaged stoppers and splashed both the sidewalk and the curb before flowing down to the drain.

Ikki had parked his car half a block away from the wrecked vehicle and cautiously moved closer to the crashed vehicle, armed with his gun. As he went closer, he could see the driver slumped unconsciously on the wrecked car's bent steering wheel.

The driver's head was in an awkward angle with his chin protruding through the space under the steering wheel and the spokes. The airbag did not even inflate as it was disabled by debris from the exploded power plant.

After opening the driver side door, Ikki had reached into the bulging left pant pocket and found a billfold and an access card along with a knife in its left pant sheath.

As soon as the duelist had gotten himself out from the car's interior, a loud report of a still unseen rifle was heard and he had instinctively ducked for cover.

Ikki had realized that it was not meant for him but rather to the unconscious (now dead) driver inside. A faint beeping sound was also heard from inside the car.

Recognizing the source of the sound as a self-destruct device, Ikki had quickly turned on his heel and ran like hell.

Thirty seconds later, the wrecked car had exploded leaving no visible traces. The lights in the neighborhood slowly winked on and the faint but familiar sirens was heard from a distance.

The sirens had grown louder with each passing moment and soon the fire trucks of Atlanta's fire department had arrived along with three police cruisers and a white ambulance.

Firemen had gone to work putting out the blaze with fire extinguishers while the police officers interviewed Ikki. The first responder had examined the charred driver and radioed for a coroner before returning to the ambulance in grim silence.

The fire trucks had soon left along with the ambulance as soon as the fire was put out.

In their place, a yellow tow vehicle and a black hearse had arrived. The former was to tow the Black Widow's charred remains to the police laboratories for further study, while the latter had picked up the dead body placed outside the burned wreck for autopsy at the city morgue.

Ikki had taken a quick peek at his Rolex wristwatch to avert his view from the disfigured and burned body and found out that it was already 11:30 PM.

In the hullabaloo, no one had noticed the arrival of an unmarked police cruiser as it parked in a curb near the now revving up tow truck. Folken had emerged from the said car before approaching the tired duelist.

The latter had leaned on his car in a desperate battle to keep himself upright and awake.

"You look like hell, Ikki. What happened?" asked the detective as he had stopped near the Night Hawk's hood.

"I got a hot tip that Kam's men are in the pit area and went after them. Then as I was going home, this guy (referring to the dead body being loaded to the hearse) had tried to kill me. I also found these before his car exploded." Ikki said as he had given the detective- the Bowie knife (identical to the one recovered in the Marriott hotel), the coded bank access card with A-119 written in the upper corner and a slip of paper with a phone number on it.

Ikki had already written the number in another piece of paper and kept it in his left pants pocket.

"Hmm, the knife is enough evidence to posthumously convict him for attempted murder and we can look into the phone number right away, but this card is going to be tough. " said Folken. "How about you call me up when I end my shift at seven am tomorrow morning? If not, Van's available until five pm. It's already a quarter to midnight so you should get some sleep."

"Thanks Folken. I'll take you on that offer," said Ikki as he had waved at the older cop before he boarded the Night Hawk on his way back to the hotel, only a few blocks away.

When he had arrived fifteen minutes later, Ikki had taken his keys from the hotel counter and headed for his new suite across the hall from the old one.

As Ikki had entered his new room, he immediately stripped to his boxers and settled down in his bed. He was so tired that he never double checked the room's security system or even noticed that he was not actually alone.

* * *

Well, that's one suspect down and three more to go. Next chapter will be Arika's introduction and the rest of Ikki's investigation of the remaining suspects. There will not be as much action and suspense but rather a lot more humor and a hint of romance, trust me on this.

The reason Ikki had gasped in the emergency meeting is because he had noticed how similar Karin's voice is with Hitomi's.

Actually, both anime characters share the same voice actress- Maaya Sakamoto. She is also the voice behind Lunamaria Hawke and Mayu Asuka in Gundum Seed Destiny too. Just a bit of trivia, folks.

For those who like a sneak peak at the upcoming chapter, here it is:

-o0o-

"If that is the case, then I do not have anything to do with it since having people nearly killed in their sleep is not my style. It is too distasteful and ineffective, y'see. If I were to threaten you to drop out of this race, I would have done so in a more 'appropriate' manner."

-00o-

For Darren White - The dialogue between Ikki, Koji and the police lieutenant is one I was asking about in the forum. I'm really sorry if I was not able to follow your suggestion but I tried my best to make it normal and in character.

I do hope you and the other guys at the Furnace are alright with it. If not, please let me know so I can revise the chapter accordingly.

Once again, this A/N is closing shop until the next chapter. Have a nice day.


	3. Friday

Hi, everyone. Now we have now arrived at the third chapter of Dueltrack. As promised, Arika is now introduced in this chapter. I have also included Samantha, Genkai, and the remaining two Screws near the end of the chapter as they too had played a part here, even if it is a minor one.

Then again, it has been said that - "There are no small roles, just small actors."

There are still three suspects left in the case of Ikki's attacker but he has only a day left to wrap this case up. That is, if he can wrap it up in a neat little package anyway.

Also I made two more cameos in this chapter so watch out for it. Of course, I do not own Medabots, Car Wars, Suikoden, Tang, Marriott Marquis Hotel, Holiday Inn- Atlanta, Lacrosse, Europol, Interpol, Glock pistols, and Visions of Escaflowne. I still wish I could though.

Legend: " " - speech, ' ' -thoughts, ( ) - mini A/Ns or actions done with the dialouge, words in **bold - **are quotes or song titles/artists, and -oOo- are scene changes

(breathes deeply) Ok, that's enough rambling for now. Let's get this show on the road...

* * *

**"It's like they taught us at Harvard: few things are as gratifying to the soul as having another man's nuts in a vise."** - Ben Bradly, All the President's Men

**Friday - ****Investigative Journalism 101**

As Ikki was waking up, his outstretched left hand immediately had felt something. The said item was soft with a silky outer membrane that quickly changed into something smooth and creamy much like a woman's skin in those soap commercials on TV.

It was not even hot but rather warm and pleasant to the touch. The whole bed had moved slightly as if it was shaken by an Intensity one earthquake from below the floor as the duelist had retracted his stray hand in panic.

"Ikki!"

'That voice, it sounds jus' like…' Ikki had never finished that thought as he felt something had hit his left cheek very hard.

"Ow! What the hell?" The duelist had yelped at the pain he had felt.

The result of that particular sequence was that Ikki was now wide awake. The first thing the duelist saw as he had rubbed his eyes upon sitting up had surprised him. What he had seen was an almost bare shouldered and blushing Arika Amazake who had been clutching their shared cotton white bed sheets over her ample chest with both hands and glaring at him for some reason.

The duelist unconsciously had run his left hand over his stinging cheek and yelped at the resulting pain.

'Wait a minute. Shared bed sheets?' Ikki's mind did a mental double take as he had looked back at the furious columnist on the other side of the double bed. His mind had finally pieced together what had happened before he was rudely awakened but he had pushed those thoughts away as he had realized something else.

"Arika, what the hell are you doing here!" Ikki said, his face red as a tomato. This was because he had only worn his old blue Metabee boxers to bed last night. He had quickly grabbed his end of the sheets to hide his boxers and his bare chest from his childhood friend's view.

"Well, my sports editor wanted me to do an exclusive article on you and in all the years I have known you; it is only now that I realize that you're a pervert."

"I am **not **a pervert. Besides, I don't sleep in **your** hotel room." Ikki angrily retorted as he had risen from his side of the bed. He then had taken an ice cube from the room's small refrigerator, and placed it over his swollen cheek. All the while, he had completely forgotten about his state of undress.

"Are you insinuating that I slept here just for kicks? For your information, I only slept here since it took you so long to get here for your interview." Arika said as she had fought down a strange feeling that was bubbling up within her as she watched her half naked and barefoot best friend walk around the bed to get his white T-shirt from the closet.

Ikki's left hand still held the slowly melting ice cube as he stopped just a foot from the bed so that the water droplets would fall on the light brown carpeted floor instead.

"Alright, you win. I already get the picture, Arika. The pit crew and I had made a few late night servomechanism adjustments and operating system re-programming on both Metabee and Brass," Ikki lied as he had shrugged his shoulders just after he had pulled out the T-shirt from its hanger.

Arika had given her old friend a look of pure skepticism as she easily saw through his act. That skeptic look had turned to an icy glare that said "tell me the truth or I will expose all your secrets to the world."

"Alright, alright. I'll tell you. Just don't tell my secrets to everyone else, alright?" Ikki cringed as he had just finished putting the shirt on.

The duelist had caved in easily since Arika did keep a lot of his secrets while they were still children and jotted a few more during their high school years. The sports columnist had smiled widely at the sight of her best friend's hound dog expression with just one look.

'I still got it,' she thought happily.

Ikki had ordered breakfast in bed for two before he told the whole story to the sports columnist, who was revealed to be wearing a violet silk nightgown to sleep.

The couple had both worn the hotel's rented white robes as they waited for room service. In the meantime, Ikki had told Arika what had happened since the previous morning attack. The story telling was briefly interrupted by the arrival of the hotel's room service who brought them their breakfast. He was smiling mischievously as he left the room with the emptied tray cart.

Both room occupants had just shrugged their shoulders as neither the duelist nor the sports columnist had understood why the said attendant had smiled like that or even cared to know. Ikki simply continued his story as they had eaten their meal.

After eating, the couple had left their plates, glasses, spoons and forks on the small table near the bed. They had taken turns taking a shower, brushing their teeth, and shaving or applying make up before dressing in their street clothes and heading to the elevator.

-oOo-

At the hotel lobby in the ground floor, Ikki had gone to the public videophone near the hotel lobby to call Folken or Van about the access card that he had found after his last duel. To his dismay, he had only found Hitomi who was already dressed in her blue police uniform.

After the warm introductions, Hitomi had told them what Folken had uncovered with the access card. Ikki had by then kept the business card Folken gave him on their first meeting back in his wallet.

"Folken really had a hard time findin' the relevant information but he told me everything he knew before he and Van left for a grand theft auto call five minutes ago," she began.

"The guy was a hired killer who was usually reliable in what he does." Hitomi was saying after a few peeks at her assembled report. "Luckily for you, he seldom uses duel cars in his hits. He was also wanted in several countries across Europe for several years. That is why both European Police (Europol) and International Police (Interpol) had posted big rewards for his capture. We can back you up if you'd like to claim 'em."

"I don't know, Hitomi. I mean, I didn't take him down just to claim a reward. I did it ta save my own skin," said Ikki, bothered by his conscience.

In the meantime, Arika had gasped at how similar Hitomi's voice is to Karin's but did not comment on it.

"Just take it, Ikki. I mean, you did deserve it even if it was not your original intention," said Arika, secretly relieved that the duelist has survived the attack even if he was not at his best shape to fight back then.

"She's got a point there, Ikki. Besides, you can donate them to your favorite charity if you don't want them," added Hitomi.

"Alright, I'll do it."

"Great, the funds will be transmitted via wire transfer to your Autobank account in a few weeks. All you have to do is head on over to the police station on Monday morning so you can tell them your account information yourself. "

"How much is it worth, Hitomi?" asked Arika, curious at the amount that was set aside by the both prestigious international police organizations for this assassin.

"I think it was about 125,000 dollars total, give or take a thousand," Hitomi answered absently, as she had read the faxed communiqués from both Europol and Interpol that she now held in her left hand.

Both Arika's and Ikki's mouths had fallen at the same time at mere mention of the large amount. Arika had recovered first as she had remembered that the guy was wanted in several European countries, most probably for high profile assassinations.

She and Hitomi (who did a delayed double take when she had realized what she herself had just said) had waited for Ikki to recover from his swoon before continuing the conversation.

The policewoman had also told them that the person or organization that hired the said hit man has to have international connections and a lot of money for them to track him down and later keep him hidden from the authorities, both local and international. Unfortunately, the paper and electronic trail had ended long before they could even come close to revealing their true identity or identities

This meant that until the police could catch the mastermind/s themselves, Ikki's life would remain in grave danger. On that sad note, Hitomi had quickly ended the call as she was called in for a burglary in progress at an upscale neighborhood in Buckhead.

As soon as the first call had ended, Ikki had pulled out from his jean's left rear pocket a crumpled piece of paper and flattened it on the videophone's screen. He then dialed it up and waited for the person on the other end to answer.

After a few rings, static had filled the five inch screen for a second before giving way to an image of a bearded man who was dressed in a three piece suit and tie. A heavily accented voice was heard on the phone's receiver.

"Hello? Sven? What is the status of the American duelist? Have you taken care of him?" Ikki had lost his temper at the fact that his brush with death was treated like a simple business deal.

"Look, pal. I almost got killed by that Sven or whateva his name is that you sent to 'take care of ' me and I want straight answers. Do ya hear me? I also challenge you to a duel at…" Ikki had never even finished his challenge as the line had gone dead and the screen blanked out. He had tried to dial a second time only to hear more ringing followed by a busy signal.

Ikki had slammed the phone back into its receiver in anger. That single action had drawn some puzzled stares from the people mingling at the lobby but Arika had explained that Ikki's supposed girlfriend had just broken up with him on the phone so he had slammed it in his frustration. Everybody then gave the duelist a pitying look before returning to whatever they were doing.

"Thanks, Arika. I owe ya one," whispered Ikki in her right ear. Arika had felt a slight tickle in her ear where his warm breath had made contact with it but she had squelched the feeling from before that had come back before it would develop any further.

"Ok, let's try this my way." Arika said as she had walked hurriedly to the public access terminal beside the used videophone. Her slim fingers had danced on the keyboard. The screen had shown that the columnist was logging on the telephone company's electronic records and accessing a cross-reference file for the telephone number to find out its address.

Ikki was mesmerized at how his best female friend's fingers had moved gracefully across the keyboard and Arika had to literally shake him out of his daydream just to tell him that she had figured out where the call came from.

An overjoyed Ikki had hugged the sports columnist, not minding that a lot of people in the lobby and even more outside the automatic sliding glass doors were now staring at them intently.

A blushing Erika had nervously coughed to get his attention and the couple both ran to the elevator on their way to the underground parking lot, each one of them avoiding the other one's gaze and hiding their now reddened cheeks.

-oOo-

The columnist had convinced her best friend to use her car so their targets would not get suspicious at their arrival. Thus the couple had boarded Arika's Saturn Ion car, the Muckraker.

After strapping themselves up, the car then left the parking lot on its way to the Holiday Inn Atlanta in East Point, a few miles away in the southern part of the city and was the nearest hotel to the Hartsfield –Jackson International Airfield.

The dark blue Saturn Ion was armed with a Vulcan machine gun on its roof turret, two linked machine guns in front and a smokescreen (for quick getaways) in the rear. All weapons (except the smokescreen) were smart linked with each other for simultaneous firing in a pinch.

The ride itself was quiet as neither occupant had gotten around their embarrassment yet. After an uneventful half hour, the Muckraker had arrived at its destination. As Arika had parked her car a few feet from the hotel front, she and Ikki had discussed their plan on fooling their targets.

The plan was to visit them in their rented room disguised as a contributor and photographer of a bogus magazine and do an impromptu interview with the hopes of getting as much information as possible. Arika then opened her trunk and had pulled out a disguise kit for both of them to use.

Ikki was to wear a fake beard and mustache along with a brown wig to complement his beard and mustache of the same color. He had also clipped on a fake press ID just below the crocodile emblem of his red Lacrosse polo shirt.

His black Levis 501 jeans and Chuck Jones sneakers complete the casual wardrobe. Arika also gave him her Canon digital camera to complete his disguise.

On the other hand, Arika was to wear a black wig and fake eyebrows and even added blue contacts for her brown eyes. Her usual wardrobe of a pink blouse, gray pants, and brown pumps had made her look the part of a magazine contributor perfectly.

Ikki had closed the trunk and they headed for the hotel's front door. The hotel's security guards had briefly accosted them as they entered but Erika said that they were expected by Scarlet Moon Imports Corporation in their room on the fifth floor.

-oOo-

As soon as the pair were let go, they had raced for the closing elevator doors on the hallway to the right of the reception desk. Both young adults had panted as they had reached the elevator just in time, ignoring the bewildered looks from the other occupants.

The elevator operator had asked the pair on which floor would they disembark and Ikki had answered in between pants the fifth floor.

On the fifth floor, Arika had led the way until they arrived at the end of the hallway. She had knocked softly on the door but got no answer. She had tried again, this time louder.

There was still no answer. Ikki had motioned her aside and tried to open the door. To their dismay, it was locked.

Arika was upset that their disguises were not even needed. She had tapped her left foot repeatedly as she crossed her arms. Even her mouth was curved upward in a prominent frown.

While the columnist was visibly steaming, Ikki had calmly pulled out a safety pin from his right back pocket. Arika had watched the duelist use the safety pin in picking the lock as she still impatiently tapped her left foot. A sudden click had told them that it worked.

The reported had opened the door eagerly while Ikki had thrown the bent safety pin to the plastic waste basket just past the door before they entered. The duelist had also closed the door shut just in case.

The room itself had looked like a tornado hit it. The dark green bed sheets were strewn across the bed and its edges had touched the carpeted floor, curtains were hung haphazardly, newspapers had littered the said floor and a single box was laid in the double bed smack dab in the center of the room.

Arika had examined the partly opened box only to find out that it was a time bomb composed of a plastic explosive connected by wires to a digital alarm clock.

Ikki then grabbed the box and with his trusty Swiss knife had cut the red wires connecting the clock and the CHEMEX (C4) plastic explosive.

"When did you learn how to disable it, Ikki?" Erika asked with bated breath as she had hugged the duelist tightly from the back when the ticking had stopped.

"I didn't. I only knew that it always worked in the movies," the duelist said as he had shrugged his shoulders. Arika suddenly let him go and hit Ikki in the back of his head for his anticlimactic reply.

"Ow. That hurts, Arika." The duelist yelped as he had rubbed his sore spot.

"Good, now help me find some clues."

Ikki had grumbled and headed for the trash can near the door with the bundled up bomb so he could leave without Arika knowing. As he slowly placed the bomb in the wastebasket, he had noticed a nearly charred piece of paper inside.

He had carefully placed the bomb on the floor and pulled out the paper from the trash can. Without realizing it, he had read the words printed out loud.

"Operation Code - 101 Dalmatians."

Arika had stopped her search in the wooden drawers as she heard Ikki speak. She had glomped him for a second time as he had found the only clue they could get in this mess.

Ikki was beginning to become embarrassed at being hugged repeatedly and had asked the columnist to let go. Arika did as he asked but Ikki now felt a little twinge of guilt because of it. He shook his head to rid himself of that ill feeling and grabbed his friend's left hand as they had scurried out of the room.

The columnist had grabbed the nearly forgotten bomb and kept it under her right arm as Ikki had led her to the elevator and out the building.

-oOo-

It was when the pair had entered the car that they had let out the breaths they never thought they held. The Muckraker had exited the parking area into the busy streets of Atlanta. Ikki had suggested that they go to the Poison Ivy Bar and Grill to check another lead.

Arika had gone along with his suggestion on the condition that they still have to wear their disguises. Ikki had reluctantly agreed since it was a better idea than taking a cab there or picking up his car back at the hotel.

It had taken them about half an hour before they had reached Lee Street SW when Ikki saw a makeshift barricade of trash cans and barrels up ahead of them and an Audi A4 sedan (Bushwhacker) with linked recoilless rifles as its main weapons come into view behind them.

There were also some graffiti spray painted in white on the mostly dark brown colored barricade but it was a bit blurry due to its distance.

Arika had also seen the trap and headed for the barricade at seventy miles per hour as she had activated the car's smokescreen, blinding their pursuer. The words "Your tax dollars at work" written in capital letters had grown larger as the Muckraker had neared the dirty barricade.

Ikki had braced for the worst when the Saturn Ion had suddenly gone airborne, missing the four meter high barricade by mere inches. The sudden upward movement had pushed both he and Arika further into their seats. Four ignited Jet Assisted Take Off (JATO) units underneath the Saturn's chasis were seen by spectators cowering in their hiding places among the buildings as it pole vaulted above the junk structure.

The Muckraker had landed with a loud thump ten feet away from the barricade, jarring its passengers before it gained traction and accelerated away. The distraught Audi's driver could not hit the brakes fast enough and his car had hit the barricade full force.

The Bushwhacker had punched a car size hole through the barrier with dirt, water, and pieces of rusted metal flying through the air to either land on the street ahead or on the sidewalk on either flying debris had even hit an occasional window, door, light post, or fire hydrant in its trajectory with different results.

The car itself did not come out unscathed. Its exposed gun barrels were broken off at the middle and its front bumper, headlights, and grille were heavily damaged.

The Bushwhacker's driver had gone berserk as he saw the damage in the front of his car and shot at leading car, not caring if he had hit the escaping car or not.

As a result, the double parked duel cars had taken most of the hits. Their side armors were riddled with High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) rifle rounds, causing much visible damage.

The Muckraker had only suffered minor damage from behind, most of it on the smokescreen and rear armor. Ikki had returned fire with the Vulcan, doing even more damage to the receding car's already banged up hood and hitting the power plant underneath it.

The Audi had skidded to the right, a complete wreck as its power plant exploded. The explosion had catapulted the car's black hood twenty feet in the air while destroying the rest of the car. Arika had sighed in relief and jokingly told her gunner that he would pay for the repairs.

Not getting the joke, Ikki had mentally calculated the costs and hoped Koji would not mind losing about seven hundred dollars or so for the slight repair work of the Muckraker.

The Muckracker then continued on its way, leaving behind the neighborhood kids who were starting to leave their hiding places through out the block to gawk at the smoking wreck.

-oOo-

The columnist had parked her car across the street from the Poison Ivy Bar & Grill and told Ikki to keep their disguises on as they exited the car. Both Ikki and Arika had sized up the situation outside the club's doors and prayed that their gambit would work.

The guards/bouncers/enforcers on both sides of the French door were a bit confused at the disguised pair who were now crossing the street and heading in their direction.

They knew their boss liked to keep a very low profile, the club's simple facade and its location in a seedy part of Atlanta had proved it. Nevertheless, their customers had varied from seedy bookies hanging around the arena ticket stands to high rollers who also like to keep a low profile themselves.

The hulking guard on the left had told the "magazine contributor" and her cameraman to state their business or leave. Erika had calmly pulled out the matchbook from her flesh colored purse and replied that she had a very important interview inside and that it would not take long.

The guards had looked at each other and shrugged as they had let the new visitors inside the bar.

As the duo went further inside, the couple had noticed that the atmosphere is quite cozy with dimmed lights, soft music, and people chatting in low tones as they had eaten their lunch or waited for their orders. Erika had even quipped that the place reminded her of the speakeasies of a more than a century past, immortalized in fading black and white photographs now framed in museums.

The tables were arranged in a linear manner in rows of three. Two rows lay flushed to the walls and its wooden seats are longer than those in the middle row. All the chairs have leather backrests and seats for maximum comfort.

The pair had stopped at the counter and ordered two tenderloin steaks and some mashed potatoes with two sundaes for dessert. They had also ordered two Cokes to wash down their meal. Afterward, both Ikki and Arika had looked for a place to sit and wait for their orders. Ikki had found a newly vacant table near the back of the dining area before leading his best friend there.

As was customary, Arika had sat facing the door while Ikki watched the dark corridor leading to the back of the building. As their orders arrived, a well-dressed middle-aged man had sauntered to their table. His attire was composed of a charcoal gray tailored suit with a black necktie, and black leather shoes

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Jacob Bannon - the owner of this fine establishment." The man said with a tip of his gray homburg.

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Bannon. My name is Arika Amazake, sports columnist of the Atlanta Inquirer and (motioning to Ikki) my photographer..." Erika began as she had shaken Jacob's wrinkled hand.

"Ikki Tenryou. I am quite pleased to meet a duelist of your caliber," Jacob finished as he had shaken the surprised duelist's hand. "Though there is really no need for such a ridiculous disguise, Mr. Tenryou as I easily saw through it."

Ikki had taken off his fake facial hair and wig as he had found his voice. "How did you know it was me? And please, call me Ikki."

"An educated guess, Mr. Ten- Ikki. After all, in my line of business, you would not live long if you cannot even see through the simplest of disguises."

"I see," Ikki said simply. Arika was turned off by the businessman's arrogance but kept her mouth shut so as not to create a scene.

"Forgive me for asking but why are a high-ranking duelist and a sports columnist of a local newspaper be here of all places and having a matchbook that we only give to our patron customers no less?"

"Actually…" Ikki began as he had thought of a way to answer the question without mentioning the incident in his hotel room.

"Wait, this may have something to do with the fracas in your room. Am I right, Ikki?" Bannon said as he had clicked his fingers.

"Yes, I found this matchbook just outside my hotel room after I chased my attacker away." Ikki replied with a sigh.

"If that is the case, then I do not have anything to do with it since having people nearly killed in their sleep is not my style. It is too distasteful and ineffective, y'see. If I were to threaten you to drop out of the race, I would have done so in a more 'appropriate' manner."

Both Ikki and Arika had felt the hair at the back of their necks rise at the chilling tone that Jacob used as he had told them that simple fact. It had taken them a lot of willpower just to appear unaffected by Jacob's veiled threat.

"The fact is I like things to stay the way it is now. There is more money for me that way. The MTB and BRS projects may upset that fragile balance but I am taking a 'wait and see' attitude for now. Tomorrow's race will certainly be interesting…don't you think so, Miss Amazake?"

"Yes... it is," Arika answered in a quiet voice.

"By the way, we only give that matchbook to our patron customers." Jacob said as he had stood up and headed for his office upstairs through the staircase in the rear of the building. "And since we have so many patrons of different nationalities and social classes coming here day and night; it is hard to keep track of all of them. One of them could be your man, so cheer up and enjoy your meal."

The investigative duo had quietly eaten the rest of their meal and left quickly. Ikki had also grabbed the discarded disguise as he stood and held them in his hand.

Along the way, they had passed by a teenage brunet with ruffled hair and brown eyes who was down on his left knee in front of his surprised girlfriend in their table nearest the door in the center row. The teen's right palm had held a small opened box with a diamond ring inside as he had asked his long time girlfriend to marry him.

The recipient of the ring, a blue haired girl with reddish-brown eyes had tearfully accepted his marriage proposal with a hug and a nearly shouted "yes". As Ikki had opened the door for his friend, they had heard newly engaged couple's words.

"I promise to love and protect you for all time, Sera May." the brunet said as he had returned the girl's hug.

"I have been waiting for you to say that for a long time now, Jenus Diller." Sera replied as she had cupped Jenus' face in her hands before they kissed deeply.

-oOo-

Both Ikki and Arika had crossed the street to the parked Muckraker in record time. As they were strapping themselves in their seats, Ikki had spoken up.

"I kind of envy those two, how 'bout you?"

"I feel the same. I mean, they probably just turned eighteen months ago and now they get engaged. It makes me feel stupid for holding out just for a certain man."

"If it makes you feel better, I too am holding out for a certain girl."

Arika had started the car and put it in gear as they had pulled out of the curb on their way back to the Marriott Marquis hotel. "Oh really, what's she like?"

Ikki laughed slightly as he said. "Hmm... she's a bit domineering yet dependable. Not to mention, she's also very attractive."

Arika's curiosity was instantly piqued. "Anything else?"

"Nope, that's it. How about your guy? What's he like?" Ikki said as he had to squash a feeling of jealousy that came out from nowhere as he had looked at both the radar and the side view window for trouble.

"For starters, he's as dense as a diamond, loves auto dueling with a passion, but a pillar of strength whenever I need one."

"Anyone I know?" Now its Ikki's turn to be interested at the identity of Arika's dream man as his chest felt like it had tightened a bit for a few milliseconds.

"Yes, Ikki. You know him very well. I can assure you of that."

-oOo-

The Muckraker had arrived at the Marriott's underground parking lot around noon and Ikki moved to his parked car. Both duelists had discarded their used disguises before Ikki exited the Muckraker.

As the Night Hawk had left its parking space, Ikki had invited Arika to join him in the pits to inspect his racing duel car and finally meet his pit crew along with the prototype maintenance bots. She had agreed and together they headed for the arena.

Along the way, Arika had asked her duelist friend on the radio if he had noticed the similarities between Hitomi's voice and Karin's.

"Yeah. I kinda noticed it during yesterday's pow-wow. I just couldn't tell them about it since they haven't met Hitomi yet. Besides, it would probably disrupt the whole meeting."

"Good point."

-oOo-

As the two cars had arrived in the arena's McDonough gate, a bigger crowd than Ikki had encountered the day before was waiting for them. The two guards had tried their best to disperse the crowd to no avail. It had taken two more guards who were re-assigned from foot patrol duty inside the premises to successfully disperse the crowd long enough to let both cars enter the arena.

Fans (mostly of the female variety) were still screaming for Ikki to either give them their autographs, marrying her (Arika shuddered at the thought of Ikki marrying them; given their crazed expressions), and winning the Atlanta Classic for them.

Ikki had shared the same opinion as the columnist about the fans and had tried to look as calm and collected as possible as he waved back.

As the duel cars had entered the pit area, fifteen 3-foot repair bots resembling Johnny 5 swarmed over them. This said scene had given both drivers quite a scare and had elicited a round of laughter from the small group lumped together beside the gleaming Kobra.

The robots were soon recalled by Eilie's inputting of a new command in the pit's mainframe beside her. Ikki and Arika had stormed off their cars in barely controlled anger to confront the little group.

The whole scene was also caught by the newly installed security cameras placed in strategic locations throughout the two hundred fifty six square meter pit area.

"That wasn't funny, guys." fumed Ikki, as he was still a bit jumpy from the events at the Poison Ivy.

"Yeah, what's the big idea with all these robots?" added Arika, as she had spotted the security cameras and resolved to erase those embarrassing footage at a more convenient time.

"Sorry, guys. The new repair 'bots just wanted to fix your cars since the Kobra's still undamaged," explained Riou as he had approached them with his hands up in the air in mock surrender.

"I can understand that but why did they rush us as we came in?" Ikki complained bitterly.

"That would be my fault, Ikki. I had programmed them to 'fix the damaged car that will enter the pit' as we know you will come back to check up on us," said Eilie in an apologetic tone.

"You're forgiven, Eilie. Besides, both our cars need some repairs right now." Ikki said as he had watched the robots repair and re-arm both vehicles.

"Ok, so how was your day?" Koji said to the new arrivals, noticing their closeness to each other.

Karin had also noticed the closeness of the two. 'Finally, they began to realize their feelings for each other. I just hope the boys won't mess it up by teasing them.'

"Apart from nearly blown up into little pieces, ambushed in broad daylight, and intimidated by a 'Godfather' wannabe, we're fine." Ikki replied sourly.

"Not to mention, your fan club asking you to marry them. Talk about fanatics," added Arika. Her face had saddened a bit at the thought of her best friend and secret crush marrying someone else.

Only Eilie, Karin, and Kasumi had noticed this as the guys were still talking about the results of their respective investigations.

After the pit crew had introduced themselves to Arika and vice-versa, Karin had thought of a way to talk to the anxious columnist in secret.

"Would you like some juice and croissants, Ikki?" Karin had offered to the duelist who smiled and nodded gratefully. She then turned to the columnist. "Arika, could you give me a hand in bringing the snacks to the boys?"

"Sure, Karin."

As the two young women headed for the small enclosed kitchen in the farthest corner of the pit area, Karin had asked her best friend about the latter's feelings for the duelist.

"I don't know what to do, Karin. I just can't tell him that I'm falling for him because he might take it the wrong way." Arika said as she was picking up the plate of croissants placed on the kitchen counter while Karin had opened the refrigerator and pulled out a pitcher of Tang Mixed Orange fruit juice.

"There, there. Don't think of him that way, Arika. I know for a fact that Ikki is still single and unattached because he too has fallen head over heals in love for a certain high spirited young woman that he knew since childhood but cannot tell her for the same reason that you just gave me."

"Really?" squealed Arika, putting two and two together.

"Yes, now let's get the snacks over to the guys, Kasumi, and Eilie." said the orange-haired housewife and co-owner of Karakuchi Industries.

The young women had returned to the spot where the guys were making the final adjustments to the Kobra's wheel alignment, throttle, brakes, steering lock, and gearbox with the help of both Metabee and Brass.

Arika had tried to calm herself down but was unable to do anything about the extra skip in her step as she had carried the plate with both hands.

This time, everyone had noticed her upbeat movements and happy expression on her face. The guys were a bit confused as to what brought this on while both Kasumi and Eilie had looked at each other and winked.

They did look at Karin oddly though since Ikki had told them about her voice being similar with someone else. The young woman herself was puzzled at the strange looks she had been getting. She had briefly wondered if it was the smidgen of butter that probably remained on her lips after she had eaten one of the croissants along the way back.

"Dig in, everyone. You deserve it," Karin said sweetly after she had wiped the smidgen of her face with a white handkerchief. The guys had cleaned their greased hands and faces before each one picked up a croissant and a glass of chilled juice.

Riou had tried to grab a second croissant but his hand was slapped gently by his finger wagging girlfriend to his friends' amusement.

-oOo-

It was already four in the afternoon when the team had finished all the mechanical adjustments to the Kobra. Tir had asked Koji if they could leave early for an early rest. Koji had agreed and after the repair team had stowed their tools and other equipment, they each went their separate ways.

Metabee and Brass were now carried to the Tiger Claws so the Karakuchi couple can carry them to their mansion in East Lake. Everyone else besides Ikki and Arika had left the garage for their own cars and home. The soon to be couple then headed the other parts of the arena as it was still to early to go back to the hotel.

They first had gone to the media tent so Arika could do some interviews for her column while Ikki had chatted with the other reporters and duelists outside the media tent door.

After Erika had finished her interviews, she had gone to see Ikki before asking him shyly if they could go to the observation boxes now.

"Huh? I mean, sure. Do you mind if I ask why?" said Ikki, as he scratched his head in puzzlement.

"You'll find out when we get there. Come on, slowpoke." a suddenly elated Arika said as she had dragged the still confused duelist towards the arena floor. As they had passed through the participant's entrance, the duo had seen two duel track cars chasing each other around the track. The cars seemed to be dueling but their ammunition turned out to be just paint pellets.

Ikki had explained that since the Atlanta Classic is the premiere dueling event in the American Southeast, the best autoduelists competing here have to practice daily to get the feel of the track and also test the latest adjustments to their duel track racing car. Live ammo is prohibited while practicing therefore only paint pellets and targeting lasers were permitted for use.

The pair had walked through the long corridor beneath the stands leading to the elevators to the observation stands. Along the way, Ikki had spotted a shadow coming from a concrete pillar three meters to his left. Not wanting a repeat of the ambush the other night, Ikki had stopped briefly and told Arika in a hoarse whisper to draw her Glock 18C pistol and follow his lead.

The duelist had also drawn his own gun and walked cautiously forward. The columnist had trailed him by a few steps.

As the two friends had neared the pillar, a lean figure wearing a T-shirt, jeans and sneakers but no body armor jumped out from behind it. He was attempting to stab the duelist with his drawn black jack only to find that Ikki had eluded him by jumping to the side.

A second later, two gunshots had echoed through the hallway followed by a dull thud as the man had fallen on the floor. Ikki had ran back to the arena proper to call the security guards while Arika had searched the fallen killer who was now lying in a pool of blood.

By the time the duelist had come back with back up, Arika had already taken 300 dollars in crisp bills and a recent picture of the duelist from the attacker's pockets.

As an afterthought, she had lifted the attacker's head slightly to close his glassy eyes. The guards had taken the picture as evidence and sent the pair on their way.

With the romantic mood spoiled by the attack, Arika had sadly told her crush that they should just go back to the hotel. Ikki had disagreed and told her that they would pay a visit to two more suspects before they retire for the night.

-oOo-

Fifteen minutes later, they were in the pit area of Eddie Hernandez, one of Ikki's opponents in the race. The pit itself was a bustle of activity with mechanics busy making their final adjustments to Eddie's Road Rage duel track racing car. The walls were dotted with old pictures of Eddie's victories and some spare parts to reduce the clutter on the 84 square meter floor area.

Reporters and general hangers on had surrounded the pompous duelist, each one hanging onto his every word. Salesmen had tried to hawk their wares to the growing crowd but were largely ignored.

Both Ikki and Erika looked around for anything that would serve a clue that would link Hernandez to the case. The only thing Ikki had found out after looking over the shoulders of a mechanic busy inspecting the rear of the duel track racer was that Eddie was using a UB-317 rear trans-axle.

The duelist had made a mental note to outmaneuver Eddie every chance he gets in tomorrow's race. He knew that the said trans-axle could carry a heavier load but that also means there is a limit in the Road Rage's maneuvering or it would end up with a nasty under steer.

As they were heading for the exit, Eddie had spotted them. "Well, well. It seems that my opponent wants to show his girl how good I really am," he said in a taunting manner.

"Dream on, Eddie. You weren't that good then. What makes ya think you're better now?" said Arika, still bristling at being called Ikki's girlfriend in such a rude manner.

"Ooh, I like girls with spunk. So how's about ya dump that clod and go out with a real man."

"She would if he's actually here," Ikki said, smirking as he did so. The crowd and Arika had gotten a good laugh at this while the digital cameras had flashed in Ikki's direction.

"That's funny, that's really funny. " said Eddie, his face livid and his gloved fists were clenched tightly. "Well listen here Tenryou and listen good, I can take ya and that tracked trash can of yours with one hand behind my back."

Ikki continued on his way out. This time however, he had grabbed Arika's right hand in full view of their audience before saying. "Trash talking and winning races are two different things, Eddie. It's best to remember that."

As the duo had exited the pit while holding hands, neither one had thought that they would become the next celebrity couple after this night.

-oOo-

Ikki and Arika had crossed the street and headed for the Gunner's Auxiliary a few doors down in an easterly direction. From the outside, the only thing that differentiated the Gunner's Auxiliary from other storefronts nearby was the hand printed cardboard sign taped to the door's viewing window.

Ikki had knocked gently then louder as there was no answer. Arika then turned the steel knob to the right and opened the door easily. She had given the duelist a triumphant look as he had countered with a sheepish one.

The couple had heard a bell ring as they had entered the establishment. Ikki had looked back and saw an old fashioned bell chime as it was hit by the same door that he had now closed shut.

The couple's first thought as they had gotten a good look at the office inside was that it was filthy and almost mirrored the room in the Holiday Inn that they entered earlier. Instead of curtains in complete disarray, auto dueling posters and slogans were haphazardly posted on the walls. What was even weirder was that the said posters and slogans were focused more on the weaponry rather than vehicle designs or driving techniques.

They had also heard voices coming from the back room (male by their pitch) and judging from their slurred words were having a real drinking party. Ikki had headed to the back door leaving Arika to look around the office some more. The duelist had found three men drinking Budweiser in their aluminum cans around a beat-up card table.

Judging from the one and a half meter pile of beer cans in the space between them and the wall, the drunks must have been drinking for a while now. Ikki had knocked on the door jamb and all three drunks had turned to him.

The skinniest one facing him had slurred "Hey, man. How's 'bout you join us? We've been partying for three days straight now, isn't that great?"

He had looked around a bit before continuing. "There used ta be more people here but…"

The bulky person on his right said. "Forget 'em party poopers!"

"So how's about a Bud, pal?" the man added as he had shakily offered Ikki an unopened can.

"Sure, so what's the beef?" Ikki replied as he had accepted the can while the third and biggest man had stood up and wobbled his way to another seat so Ikki could take his.

"It's those damn robots," answered the big guy as he had once again rose to his feet and punched his fist straight up into the air only to lose momentum and let gravity take over on his way back on the steel seat. "We'll take care of 'em as soon as this party's over. Ow, my butt hurts."

Ikki had to wonder on how could they "take care of both Metabee and Brass" if they could not even walk straight without falling on their faces. His thoughts were interrupted by a brunette in pink overalls emerging from the shadows in the rear of the room.

Her rough left hand was pointed at the front office as she had looked at the drunken trio.

"Hey, why're you guys still here…" She then noticed the surprised visitor. "You!"

"You've got a lot of nerve comin' here, stranger. How's 'bout we talk up front?" she said as she had walked to the front office.

Ikki had just stood up and was finishing his beer when he had heard two gasps and the beginning of an argument from the other room. He had thanked the drunken trio and headed for the front office. Along the way, he had thrown his can into the wastebasket at the big guy's left side.

"Who are you and what are you both doing here?" the girl in overalls said in exasperation as Ikki had entered the room. Ikki had offered his hand in friendship as he had introduced himself and the columnist.

"Hi. I'm Ikki Tenryou and this is my friend, Arika Amazake." Arika had bowed to the other young woman as she was introduced.

"I've heard of you guys," the girl began. "You're that homecoming duelist, right?" the young woman said as she had pointed at Ikki. He had nodded in reply.

Turning to Arika, she added. "And you're that sports columnist in the Atlanta Inquirer, right?"

The columnist had also nodded.

"Well then, I'm Samantha Kikuhime - leader of the Gunner's Auxiliary group. The sorry butts back there are Spyke Iwanoi, Sloan Kagamiyama and Genkai," Samantha said as she had thumbed the back door.

She had motioned to the seats in front of the dusty desk facing the door. She herself had sat on her seat behind the desk.

"Our goal is ta show everyone that machines should the tools of man as it's always has been. We fear that the new robots may reverse the status quo. Maybe in the future, machines like Metabee and Brass will end up taking our places in the duel circuits or worse in the roads that we travel on."

Samantha was visibly shaken by her own apocalyptic vision.

"Don't worry, Miss Samantha. That future will never happen since no computer is smart enough to replace the human brain. Just think of the maintenance 'bots not as your replacement but rather as your metallic friend who will help you fix your machines and double as your gunner if the need arises." Ikki said with finality.

"Ikki's right for once. I was also told that Brass would have a software upgrade that would enable her to advise young women like you in a way only a woman would know," added Arika, ignoring the glare from Ikki for her witty comment.

"Alright, I'm beginning to see what your both trying to say. I only hope my own fears are unfounded."

"They are, Samantha. Koji wouldn't build anything that would ruin him in the end." Arika had held the other girl's gloved hand in her own as she spoke.

"Thank you. I'll keep that in mind," Samantha said gratefully. Would ya like some tea?"

"Uh, it's a bit late and I have a race tomorrow. You're all welcome to watch me win though," quipped the duelist as he had puffed up his chest only to be hit in the back of his head. "Ow!"

"Forgive him, he's got an ego the size of this city. Let's go, Mr. Duel track Champion." said Arika as she had pulled the protesting Ikki by the shirt collar on their way out the door.

The last thing Ikki had seen before the door closed was Samantha bending forward as she held her sore stomach from laughing too much.

* * *

Like I said earlier, action and suspense gave way to bits of fluff and a lot of humor. Almost forgot, I do not own Get Ride Amdriver either. The cameos I was talking about earlier were Jenus and Sera who are two of the lead characters in that mecha anime.

Other cameo appearance similar to this will also be done in the next installments of Anime Car Wars namely Badlands Run and Green Circle Blues. As to what anime will they be coming from, I 'll leave that to your imaginations.

And yes, the chase and jumping sequence was inspired by Knight Rider and I do not own it either (sigh). The same can be said for the robots that look like Johnny 5 who starred in the Short Circuit movies. The Jet Assisted Take Off units were borrowed from the last Car Wars game book - Mean Streets and was also used in the first part of Car Warriors.

Communique - another word for messages, mostly used in large organizations.

Speakeasies - an establishment where alcoholic beverages were sold and drunk illegally, especially one operating during the prohibition era in the U.S. (1920-1932).

Coming up next is the concluding chapter for this fan fiction where all the important questions will be answered and a race will be won or lost in the intensity of the duel track. And here is my final sneak preview for this story.

* * *

By nine o' clock, two Totota Camry Soleras with polarized windows had entered the railroad yard gate. They had stopped in a lithe spray of dirt and gravel. Two men armed with laser rifles had come out of both cars, followed by a third who was pulling yet another man out of the second car at gun point. Ikki had realized that the fourth man pulled out at gun point was Koji.

* * *

Well, I'm raring to go home now so I'll be seeing you in the final chapter slated for next week. Have a nice day.


	4. Saturday

Hi everyone and thank you for your continued patronage of this fan fiction. We are now in the last chapter where all questions regarding the plot will finally be answered and I wrap everything up as neatly as I can.

Just an afterthought, Ikki's quick thinking in the Holiday Inn hotel scenes last chapter is a tribute to an early 90's TV show named MacGyver starring Richard Dean Anderson.

Also I would like to thank Nesha1 again for the meaning of brunet which I had overlooked in my review to her.

I was thinking of bumping this story to an M rating due to some sensitive subject matters within this chapter but now, I am not so sure anymore. So I ask you, my dear reader to let me know if this story should have its rating raised or just leave it as is.

There will be some cameos from the Future GPX Cyber Formula here since it fits the story nicely, being a racing anime and all.

Also all the Medabots and Kilobots characters mentioned in the first chapter will now be featured as well especially Henry.

Disclaimer: (posted on a 6 ft x 8 ft billboard at the rear concrete wall) Fortune Hunter does not own Ikki, Arika, Koji, Karin, or any of the other Medabots/Kilobots characters. Bee Train already owns them by default. Nor does he own Eilie, Kasumi, Riou, and Tir since they are Suikoden characters owned by Konami also by default.

Van, Hitomi and Folken of The Visions of Escaflowne characters are all under the ownership of both Sunrise (anime) and Kadikawa Shoten (manga).

As for Future GPX Cyber Formula and its characters/vehicle names are also owned by Sunrise and directed by Mitsuo Fukuda who has later directed Gundum Seed and its sequel, Gundum Seed Destiny.

The same can be said for Pretty Cure Splash Star, which is owned by Toei Animation under the direction of Toshiaki Komura for the anime and Atsuji Shimizu in the movie.

He does not even own Car Wars and the places stated within the story since most are actually real locations in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States and a few that are not real are fictional places borrowed from the game book.

Finally, all songs stated in the party scene near the end belong to the artists that sung them.

Legend: " " - are spoken words, ' ' - are thoughts, ( ) are either mini-author's notes or actions done alongside a dialog, and **words in bold **are: song titles, the artists singing them, quotes, or words that were emphasized during speech.

As for the pairings, they are kind of obvious anyway so there will be no need to list them here.

With all that out of the way, please read the final chapter.

* * *

"**Never think that success is down to your own performance alone. If you start listening only to yourself, you take the first step back towards the bottom. The flowers of victory belongs in many vases.**" - Michael Schumacher

Saturday – **Revelations, Races, and Revelry**

As the early morning light was filtered through the flesh toned curtains in a fourth floor room in Marriott Marquis Hotel, two figures in the double bed were cuddling beneath the sky blue bed sheets.

That is until the female half of the pair had awakened to find herself staring at her companion's bare and sweaty chest.

The male half of the pair who goes by the name of Ikki Tenryou was now smothering his nose in the girl's rumpled brown hair while his muscular arms had encircled her sexy body. He seemed to be mumbling about something.

The girl in question, Arika Amazake, was now torn between embarrassment and a strange sense of comfort at her childhood friend's intimate actions.

She took a quick peek beneath the satin sheets before sighing in relief. They were thankfully still in their night clothes although Ikki seemed to have lost his black T-shirt sometime during the night.

She had tried to break free from Ikki's strong embrace but that only led to an even tighter hug.

"Ikki…Ikki, wake up." Arika said, fearful that paparazzi may be looking through their window to take a quick but embarrassing photo of them in a very intimate position.

"Arika…don't leave me, please… No!"

Ikki had risen so fast that the columnist almost fell off the queen-sized bed they had shared due to the sudden movement. It was a good thing that his bare arm was still around her waist, thus keeping her at his side.

The duelist had rubbed his eyes (unknowingly releasing his friend as he did so) as he began to take notice of his surroundings and his now blushing bed mate.

"Are you alright, Ikki?" Arika asked as she had hugged the now panting Ikki.

"Sorry, Arika. It was just a bad dream."

"You can tell me about it, y' know?" coaxed Arika, puzzled by his earlier words.

"I dunno. You'll probably get mad if I did."

"Alright, I won't ask you then. I was only tryin' to help," Arika said as she had let go of Ikki and shifted her bare legs to the edge of the bed.

The columnist was about to stand up so that she could take a needed shower (no thanks to their combined sweat that seemed to be stuck to her blue nightgown).

"Wait! I'll tell you everything about the dream I just had," Ikki said as he had relented as he may as well confess his deepest kept secret to her.

"Alright, talk."

"I was dreamin' about all of us. You know Koji, Karin, Zuru and the old gang, Hitomi and her fiancé-Van, his fiancé's brother – Folken, my pit crew, and … you." Ikki said the last word in a near whisper.

"So what happened? Why did you tell me not to leave?"

Ikki's face had flushed a bit before continuing. "We were all gathered in a very lavish party. I'm not sure if it was Koji's twentieth birthday or his second wedding anniversary with Karin or…"

"Damn it; stop beatin' around the bush, Ikki."

"Sorry."

"In the midst of the party, all of you had disappeared. Koji was the first to disappear followed by Karin and so on until you and I were the only ones left. I hugged you so you won't disappear on me but you tried to break free." The duelist had paused for a while to catch his breath.

"So I held you tighter because I already lost everyone. I'm not going to lose the one girl I love!" Ikki had suddenly exclaimed as his dark eyes were awash with tears.

Arika had cried too as she heard the words she had been meaning to hear from him ever since her last chat with Karin. "I'm sorry. I didn't know it was that bad, Ikki. Please forgive me."

"That's alright, Arika. I didn't mean to make you cry. It was only a dream, after all." Ikki had gently stroked her back up and down as he had made soothing sounds in her right ear to calm her down.

"You idiot! What if it comes true, huh? What if I lost you instead? Did you think you're the only one who's suffering?" Arika ranted as she had spun around and hugged the duelist tightly. Her head was laid on his bare right shoulder while his head had laid on her smaller one.

Her tears had made two wet trails down his bare shoulder. One trail had ran the length of his right arms and the other down his torso on their way to the bed below.

"There, there. Arika. I'm sorry. I really am. I promise I won't leave your side," Ikki said as his left hand had moved to her mahogany hair and stroked it while his right went to her back just to hold her closer.

"Ya should because I love you too, god damn it."

For Ikki, time seemed to have stopped as he realized that his deepest feelings for the young woman before him were reciprocated. He would have jumped for joy but he then remembered that they were sitting in a bed, hugging each other, and crying.

Ikki had released the girl he loved from his embrace then called for room service. Arika had gone to the bathroom to freshen up and take that needed bath. Ikki had followed as soon as the young woman had finished taking a shower and had freshened up himself.

Breakfast was a rather quiet affair since neither Ikki nor Arika had wanted to talk after what had just happened just minutes before.

As soon as the couple had finished their meal and dressed in their street clothes, Ikki had dialed up Koji's cell phone number on his own cell phone. What he had heard on the receiver was not his boss' voice but rather the voice of a complete stranger.

"I'm glad you called, now we can talk. We have your friend Koji so no funny stuff like calling the police," the voice said with fake happiness.

His strange accent was similar to the one that Ikki had spoken to before, meaning he was part of the group that tried to kill him twice.

"Bring the MTB-01 to us and we will let your friend go. It's that simple, comrade. So come alone to the front gate of the abandoned train yard at Rockford. Remember, front gate of the abandoned train yard by 9 o'clock or your friend's dead." The voice said in a chilling monotone before the line itself had flat lined.

Ikki had dropped the phone he was holding in shock. Arika had immediately dived for the fallen communication device before it hit the carpeted floor. She then stood up and began to shake the duelist roughly.

"What happened? Answer me, Ikki. Is Koji in trouble?" Arika said as she was still shaking her friend.

Ikki had regained his wits after a few seconds and grabbed the girl's hands shakily. "They have Koji!"

"Who has Koji? Who? Who? "

Despite the grave situation they were in, Ikki could not help but laugh at Arika's way of asking him.

"What's so damn funny, Tenryou?" Arika had screamed before punching his left bicep with her now free right hand.

"Ow, " said Ikki as he had rubbed the sore spot. "Ya sure can punch fer a girl."

Brown eyes narrowed, Arika had wound up for a second punch. This time, it was aimed at the duelist's angular face.

"Wait, Arika. I was only jokin'. I just thought you sounded like an owl when you badgered me earlier," said Ikki, his hands raised in mock surrender.

"That still wasn't funny. Anyway, just who were ya referring to earlier?" she said, yet her eyes had softened a bit as she shook her head ruefully and released her fingers from their curled positions.

"It was the guys who I talked to the video phone yesterday. The bearded guys that we were supposed to 'interview'."

"Wait, you mean the 'Scarlet Moon Imports Corporation' who left us that time bomb back in the Holiday Inn. Ooh, I'll kill them for leaving us with that bomb instead of staying for an interview." Arika said as she had seethed at the recent memory.

Ikki had felt some sweat dam up in the back of his head before he had grabbed the young woman's hand as they headed for the underground parking area.

Along the way, Arika had returned Ikki's cellphone, which he had kept in his right pocket.

-oOo-

Fifteen minutes later, both the Night Hawk and Muckraker had gone through every possible short cut to the arena at nearly eighty miles per hour.

Steel belted tires had screeched loudly as the cars rounded the corners, waking up entire neighborhoods and reaping cuss words and gunfire from people the vehicles nearly ran over along the way.

As the cars had entered the opened double steel plate doors, their drivers had seen a distraught Karin crying on Kasumi's shoulder.

Tir was cursing non-stop and punching the concrete wall repeatedly with both fists in the farthest corner of the pit while both Eilie and Riou were beside the mainframe, doing all they could to get Metabee in working order for the coming race as Brass looked on.

Both Ikki and Arika had already exited their vehicles and headed in Riou's direction. The group met where Metabee was still being examined by Ellie.

"Ikki, Arika. Koji's been kidnapped. I saw them through our bedroom window. They were waiting for him a short distance away from the gate. I called the police but they were already too late," said Karin wth some sobs, as she had covered her tearful face with her small hands.

"I was told they had even thrown smoke grenades to hide their actions from the mansion's guards. Damn 'em," Tir had added in disgust as he neared the group, blood still dripping from his wounded fingertips. Kasumi immediately went to his side and bandaged his bleeding knuckles.

"So what do we do, Ikki? Will we jus' give up Metabee or do ya have another plan in mind?" said Riou as he had nervously polished Metabee to perfection.

"It's the latter, Riou." Ikki replied before he turned to everyone else.

"Everyone, Arika and I found a piece of paper in the hotel room the kidnappers were stayin' and that it might be very important to them since they tried to destroy it along with the room itself." He said with a grimace.

"My plan is simple," Ikki continued once he had gotten everyone else's full attention. "I will use the code written in that piece of paper to bluff 'em into giving up Koji. If not, I will have ta resort to brute force to rescue him myself."

"Count me in, Ikki. I'll teach 'em a lesson for kidnappin' the boss," said Riou, brown eyes glistening with determination.

"If he's going, so am I." seconded Eilie, cracking her small knuckles.

"Don't forget about us, Ikki." said Tir and Kasumi in tandem, their lips curving to identical feral smiles.

"I may not know much about auto dueling, but I'll help you in any way I can." added Karin as she had wiped away the remaining tears with her orange handkerchief.

Arika was oddly quiet but Ikki knew she would follow him as soon as he would leave the arena gates.

The duelist had looked at the determined faces of his friends but he could not put their lives in danger just for this particular rescue mission. Koji would never forgive him if he did.

"I'm sorry everyone, but I 'ave to do this alone. The kidnapper has promised that if they saw anyone else in the meeting point, they **will** kill Koji." Ikki said with finality.

He had avoided their exasperated glares as there really was no other option available.

"That's alright, Ikki. I think I understand what you were trying to say," said Karin softly.

She then faced the surprised pit crew and columnist and said. "Everyone, load Metabee into the Night Hawk and hook him up. I knew Ikki well enough to do the impossible sometimes. Let's just pray that today is one of those times."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Thanks, Karin." Ikki had squeezed the Karakuchi Industries co-owner's frail shoulders and headed for the pit's kitchen to make a cup of coffee and put on his improved body armor.

"Girls, let's also get Brass ready for battle in the Muckraker. I have a funny feeling that Ikki's going to need all the help he can get," Karin added as soon as Ikki was out of hearing range.

"Yes, Ma'am."

The girls had waited until the hooking up of Metabee to the Night Hawk's weapon systems was complete and the Night Hawk itself had left the pit.

They then loaded Brass and with some help from the boys, had hooked her up in half the time it had taken them to hook up Metabee - a good ten minutes earlier. Arika had used the given time to put on her own improved body armor.

-oOo-

As the Muckraker disappeared into the corner leading to the arena's gates, Karin had sent a silent prayer that her two friends and her husband would come back safe and sound.

She then felt a hand on each of her shoulders and looked at both sides to see the crew who were now smiling. The homemaker's lips had broken smiled as she had remembered her own words half an hour earlier.

The Muckraker had taken a different route from the straight one the Night Hawk had used so it would not be seen by the latter car. Traffic towards the abandoned railway yard in Rockford was comparatively light in lieu of other days at this time in the morning.

Arika had thanked the times that she had experimented with each route home whenever she was caught in traffic. It was certainly helping her cut the travel time to the abandoned train yard by half.

As expected, Ikki had arrived first with plenty of time to spare. He had used the extra minutes to hide his car near a derailed railroad car that faced the front gate at an obtuse angle. If he had positioned himself correctly, Ikki could attack the kidnappers as soon as they had entered the gate.

Arika had arrived a few minutes later after Ikki did but she was still early enough to hide her duel vehicle. Rather than wait at the front gate itself, she had hid her car in the adjacent street just a block away from it in the easterly direction.

If her plan went well, Arika would cover the meeting area with enough smoke to disorient the kidnappers and Ikki could rescue Koji in the confusion before escaping himself.

-oOo-

By nine o'clock, two black Toyota Camry Solaras with polarized windows had entered the railroad yard gate. The two cars had stopped in a lithe spray of dirt and gravel.

Two men, armed with laser rifles, had come out both cars. They were followed by a third who was pulling yet another man out of the second car at gun point. Ikki had realized that the fourth man pulled out at gun point was Koji.

The said electronics magnate had bruises on both his exposed arms, a split lip, and a black eye but other than that, he was fine. Ikki had no choice but to negotiate. Koji's suit was also ruffled and even torn in places especially in the arms but were otherwise untouched.

The duelist knew that if he had attacked now, Koji would be caught in the ensuing crossfire. The duelist had exited his car and headed for the open space between the railroad car and the kidnappers in a brisk walk.

"So where is the MTB-01, Tenryou? Show it to us or he dies," the short man who had held Koji at gunpoint said. The Walter P99 pistol was aimed at Koji's right temple; and judging by the terrified look on his boss' eyes, it was already locked and loaded.

"I'll show it to you, but let my friend go first since I **will **need his help in taking the robot from my car. The crew has wired him up to my car, y' see. Maybe they were hoping that I can rescue Koji by crippling your cars first," Ikki had replied before he pointed at his car to prove his point.

The pulse laser on the car's turret seemed to be homing in on someone or something. Then it had fired a powerful blue beam straight to the first Solera's laser that was mounted beside its left headlight, destroying it completely.

Everyone besides Ikki and Koji was shocked at what had happened and the speaker regrettably let go of his bargaining chip.

He had to do it, of course. Otherwise, he and his fellow partners in crime would be like clay pigeons to the Night Hawk's now armed weapons. And if they do fight back, Metabee would also be destroyed in the process.

Either way, it was a no-win situation for them. Koji had thanked Ikki and scampered to the safety of the duelist's car. Ikki had followed soon after.

As Koji entered the Night Hawk, he had immediately disengaged Metabee from the car's weapon systems and set it back to manual control. He and Ikki then heaved the robot to the back seat before buckling up themselves.

The disappointed kidnappers had returned to their cars silently. As soon as they entered their cars, the second car had shot the now reversing Night Hawk without any warning.

The shot had damaged a small part of Night Hawk's front armor near the right machine gun.

Ikki had the Night Hawk turn around and tried to hide it in the safety of the other railroad cars as the car was chased around the whole railway yard. Koji had returned fire but was only able to do major damage on one of the chasing cars' hood.

In the meantime, the Night Hawk's rear laser resistant and fire proof armor was slowly being whittled away by a combined assault of laser beams and recoilless rifle rounds. It was only a matter of time before the Night Hawk itself would be crippled by a sure hit on its power plant.

As the cars had exited to the streets, the Muckraker had suddenly appeared behind them with its rear weapon spewing black smoke.

Seeing an opportunity to take their enemies out for good, both cars had made a sudden bootlegger's reverse and poured everything they had on the black fog before them as they were charging. Two loud explosions had signaled the end of the fight.

Sirens were now heard at the about the same time as the smoke cleared. Both Soleras were completely destroyed, a fitting testament to the accurate fire of all occupants of the Night Hawk and Muckraker especially Brass.

-oOo-

By the time the police, ambulance, and fire trucks had arrived fifteen minutes later, the cars were nothing more than burning wrecks.

Fire fighters had battled the blaze while EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians) did some emergency first aid on the kidnappers who had cheated death by jumping off the chasing cars before the said vehicles exploded.

The police officers on scene had also secured the area with yellow tape and conducted interviews whenever possible.

Among the police officers that had arrived were Hitomi and Van who were initially disappointed that they did not solve the case but they were still glad that it was all over and done with. They had escorted the shot up duel cars back to the arena in their own patrol car so that Ikki could prepare for the race ahead.

Along the way, Koji had told everyone what had happened in the short time that he had spent with his kidnappers. He had also told them that the kidnappers were East European spies but he was not sure on which country they had come from.

They had taken their orders from a big-shot diplomat who had stayed within the first Solera. From what Koji had overheard while he was tied up in their hideout, it would seem that the Metabee was to be used for warfare given his unique abilities.

Someone had also suggested on injecting him with a lethal drug whose effects are similar to those of cardiac arrest to make the police think that Koji had died by natural causes alone.

Furthermore, the drug itself would dilute easily in the bloodstream rendering it undetectable in any postmortem blood tests. Thankfully, it was turned down by the diplomat for "humanitarian reasons".

-oOo-

By eleven o'clock in the morning, the convoy had arrived at the arena's gates. The police cruiser then separated from the convoy and headed back to its headquarters as soon as its escort job was over. The remaining cars had gone further in on their way to the Kobra's pit area.

As Koji calmly exited the Night Hawk, an excited Karin had tackle-glomped him to the floor. The millionaire's cheeks were burning with each kiss his wife was giving him while his back hurt a lot from being slammed to the concrete ground.

"Hey, hey. Save it for tonight, will ya?" The blushing millionaire said amidst the laughter from his friends and crew who were also relieved to see him again. She had replied by kissing him more as she could not help but cry in unbridled joy.

It was hard but Koji finally stood up along with his wife who was still hugging him.

"Everyone, I would like to thank you for all that you have done. I would not be standing here talking to you right now if it weren't for your efforts to save me," He said simply but his eyes betrayed his joy. "But…we still have a race to win, so get to work."

The elated crew had transferred Metabee from the Night Hawk to the waiting Karakuchi Kobra, complete with some last minute recharging and maintenance.

Ikki, meanwhile, had run to his dressing room to change to his newly pressed bullet proof racing suit and pick up his helmet.

Koji had calmly supervised the quick transfer while Karin and Erika made some ham sandwiches in the kitchen for the famished owner, duel track racer, and crew (and a few sandwiches for themselves too.)

Riou had told the duelist that the duel officials were looking everywhere for him and he has to report in the racing track for the final briefing call. Tir had added that they would catch up as soon as the car was weighed in and brought to its position behind the starting gate.

Ikki had complied but had swiped a sandwich or two first as he ran to the door.

-oOo-

At the track, Ikki had seen a group of drivers and their pit crew lined up in front of a tournament official. The tournament official had seen him and waved him over, his round face displaying a prominent scowl. The rest of the drivers had also worn their "game faces" and did not even notice Ikki's late arrival.

The briefing was short and to the point. Ikki had been to many briefings before and this was no different from any of them.

"Any questions, gentlemen?" the official had asked gruffly as the briefing was finished.

"Yes. Will Metabee be included in this race?" asked a dark-skinned Brazilian duelist named Pitalia Lope.

All eyes fell on Ikki as they too had wondered if Metabee would be used in this race. Ikki gulped and his voice was shaky when he answered.

"Y-yes, Metabee will act as my gunner on this race."

"In that case, get ready to lose Tenryou." said Eddie from the far end of the line.

"Right back at ya, Hernandez."

"Enough of this foolishness. Get ta yer cars **now**!" The official interrupted, his large nostrils flaring.

The six racers had run to their cars behind the starting gates. In the first slot, sat the El Condor (Lope's dueltrack race car). Next to it was Jackie Gudelhein's Stampede.

On the third slot was the Karakuchi Kobra. Fourth, was the Speigel belonging to Franz Heinel. Fifth was the Road Rage of Eddie Hernandez. And finally, the last gate with the Strat Missionel of Edelhi Bootsvorz.

Within minutes the shrill voice of the race announcer had pierced the air. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the fourth event of the afternoon - the Atlanta Classic Division 25 Invitational for Racing Cars is about to begin."

The three-inch steel gates had slid up and the light far above it had turned green.

"And they're off!"

In the first lap, every racer had watched his own back as they were trying to figure out the best way to disable the opponent nearest to them with minimal damage to themselves.

By the time the second lap had started, everyone had someone to shoot at. Ikki had trained his sights on Eddie since he was the worst of his problems. He led the eccentric duelist away from the rest before making his move.

With Eddie now trading shots with Metabee, Ikki had suddenly turned his car to the left then to the right and back again. This crisscross maneuver had effectively slowed the car down as well as evading the HEAT rounds sent its way.

Eddie had tried to copy the same maneuver but his car had developed a sudden case of under steer and nearly spun out of control.

Both Ikki and Metabee had taken advantage of this by firing at the now easier to hit and vulnerable power plant of the Road Rage after the Kobra had slowed down enough for the Road Rage to run past it.

In minutes, the Rage's power plant had sputtered its last erg of power and the duel track car was effectively crippled as it crashed into the safety wall, nose first.

By the time Ikki had eliminated Eddie, the only cars still in the race were the Spiegel and the Strat Missionel.

The remaining two cars had tried to double team the Kobra but were eluded by a wily Ikki who had suddenly hit the brakes.

The said move is very dangerous since it may blow all of the Kobra's specially made race tires in the large amount of heat generated by the friction between the road and the tires themselves. The said tires were a bit damaged but it was not enough for Ikki to make a emergency pit stop.

The sudden stop had also nearly gotten Ikki thrown out of his seat. Luckily, his safety harness did its job well as it had pinned the now groggy race car driver in his seat.

A loud reprimand from the head mechanic and crew chief had brought him back to consciousness and Ikki was now putting the Kobra into gear as the race car accelerated to catch up to its remaining opponents.

Thanks to Ikki's sudden braking, the other two racers had overshot the Kobra and nearly crashed into each other. This blooper had angered Franz so much that he placed a warning shot on the Strat, which had returned fire.

Neither racer had noticed the Kobra, which was now catching up and shooting at them from the rear.

When the leading cars' drivers had realized that they were being shot at, only the Strat Missionel had returned fire since it had a rear weapon but it was too little too late. The damage it had received until now was enough to cripple it as well.

The Speigel did not fare much better since it was not able to return fire and Franz had trouble evading both the Vulcan and the rocket launcher's accurate line of fire.

As soon as the Spiegel had spun out of the race track, the announcer said: "And the winner of the Atlanta Classic is… the Karakuchi Kobra driven by Ikki Tenryou!

The crowd's roar had drowned out the rest of the announcer's voice as he was telling the name of the second and third placers. Then, Ikki made his victory lap as the crowd went wild.

They had even made a "wave" usually made in football (soccer) matches. The rest of the disabled race cars were towed away to the center field for safety reasons.

Ikki had heard Tir's gasp through his headset's ear piece and looked around the track until he saw why. A three way argument between Eddie, Franz, and Jackie had intensified into all out free for all.

To the crowd and the television crews covering the event, the resulting fist fight was just as entertaining as the race that had just ended. Embarrassed officials had run across the race track until they could break up the fighting trio.

Lope had already tried to calm them down was mostly ignored by the three stooges.

In resigned disgust, the tall Brazilian had left the scene with his crew and headed for their hotel instead. Edelhi had already left as he knew there was no use pacifying them.

-oOo-

Half an hour later, an elated Ikki was standing on winner's stand with Franz and Edelhi. Franz had two black eyes hidden under his Ray-Ban aviator sunglasses, and a dislocated jaw as a result of the earlier fistfight with the other two hot heads.

Moreover, the black haired champion was holding a glass of skim milk as he had waved at the roaring cloud before taking a big gulp. He had the ice chest filled with more of the sweat stuff sent to his hotel room where he would share it with his friends.

"Congratulations, Tenryou. I'll be seeing you in the next race," Franz said as he had shook Ikki's hand before turning to leave. His crew was waiting for him near the pedestrian exit.

"What he said. A few more races like this and you will surely catch up with Hayato and Naoki in the standings," Edelhi had added as he too shook the smaller man's hand and left. After the two men left, Ikki had to shake his hand in pain at the strong grip of the larger man.

After the big racer left the track, the rest of Ikki's friends had gone to his side to throw him in the air in their excitement at the duelist's victory in the race.

Arika had even given the dizzy Ikki a quick peck on the lips which had garnered some hoot calls from his other friends as well as a few laughs when his face had turned beet red.

The group then escorted the racer to his dressing room where he had enjoyed a half-hour of peace as he showered and changed to his new street wear that was left hanging near his full length mirror. Either Karin or Koji must have had it picked up from his hotel room while Ikki was still in the race.

After he had exited the dressing room, the racer was pulled by an excited spiky dual haired teenager named Rintaro Namishima towards the garage.

Ikki just listened to the dual colored haired teen as the latter had yakked about the duelist being awesome especially when Ikki had hit the brakes to avoid being boxed in by his remaining competitors.

As they arrived at the Night Hawk's side, Rintaro had opened it and waited for his idol to get in before closing it. He then left for his Toyota Hi-Lux pick up that was parked in the spectator's parking lot.

Ikki had just started the power plant when he noticed the note left in the gunner seat that he immediately read. The note said that they would hold the victory party at 4:30 PM in Club Ritz in Riverdale, one of the southern suburbs of Atlanta.

A quick glance at the dashboard clock had revealed that it was already 3:20 PM. Ikki had strapped himself up before he guided the car out of the arena and into the crowded streets.

-oOo-

As he was cruising by Old National Highway, he was joined by Henry Agata - it was he who had taught both him and Koji the basics of autodueling while they were still kids.

Henry is now the branch manager of the Atlanta branch of Uncle Al's Auto Stop and Gunnery Shop so Koji always get a valued customer's discount whenever he buys replacement weapons or ammunition for the Karakuchi Kobra and his other vehicles.

Whenever Ikki is in town, he too had visited the said branch for some new ammo and a quick chat if Henry was not too busy.

"Hey, Ikki. Congratulations on winning the Atlanta Classic. Be sure to come by our branch for some neat goodies, ya hear." said Henry on the radio.

"Thanks, Henry. It's been forever since we last talked," replied Ikki.

"Yeah, you guys were really busy in the dueling circuit while I was swamped with customers - both walk-in and online **every single day**." said Henry with a sigh. "So how's about exchanging jobs, huh? I get stressed easily since it's hard to balance the inventory and sales on any given week and the regional boss isn't helping either."

"Nah, I'll probably make a mess of things. You know me; I'm not that keen on keeping things in order."

"Yes, I noticed whenever I come by your place." Henry said, with a small smirk that the duelist was almost not able to see in his rear view mirror.

"That's really funny, Henry. It almost made me laugh," Ikki replied in a dull monotone.

"So… how are ya and Arika? Did you two finally knock boots?" Henry said in an attempt to change the subject and tease his younger friend at the same time.

"We're doing well but we're not having sex, if that's what you mean." Ikki said with a noticeable blush that he was glad that the store manager would never see due to his car being in front. "I'd rather have our first time during our honeymoon."

Henry's car (a Mercedes S-Class S65 AMG with two auto cannons upfront and a Gauss gun on its turret) had almost collided with another car as its driver had almost face planted to the floorboards.

The other driver had flipped Henry the bird as the latter had recovered and left the scene in a hurry.

"What the hell? You did not even get to score with all those beautiful girls that I saw you with on TV," Henry had nearly shouted on the airwaves. "What's wrong with you, man? All those hot chicks and you're still a damn virgin."

"Hey, try traveling in a 18-wheeler with two mother hens among your pit crew and see if **you** can get away it." Ikki retorted hotly. "'Sides, I'd rather do it with someone who I trust. The last thing I need is ta be infected by STDs (sexually transmitted diseases)."

"Ok, ok. No need ta go postal on me. Besides, I practice safe sex too."

"Yeah, right"

"That's the gospel truth, Ikki. Believe me, my fiancée and I always practice safe sex. She said that only after we marry will the 'gloves be off', if y' know what I mean."

"Yeah, yeah. Now can we talk about somethin' else that is not related to sex and marriage?"

'Sure, pal. What do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know. How about your fiancée? What's she like?"

"Well, she's got reddish brown hair, pretty gray eyes, a cute but freckled face, a nice figure and an analytical mind that I fell in love with."

Now it was Ikki's turn to nearly face plant and almost lose control of his car. "What the fudge brownie cakes? That last one is the one thing that I did not know you would even consider in a woman that you will spend the rest of your life with."

"Ha ha ha. Gotcha there huh, Ikki. Actually, Andrea is our branch's internal auditor and our first meeting wasn't the best but somewhere along the line, we've just fallen in love with each other." Henry had explained in the airwaves. "Hard to believe that I fell in love with a mousy accountant that got under my skin every other time in the office but it's there."

"True, but then again love works in mysterious ways."

"Don't you mean God, Ikki?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot. HE works in mysterious ways too."

The two friends had both laughed at this but deep down they both knew that there was a certain truth to both those sayings.

-oOo-

Ten minutes later, the two car convoy had arrived in front of Club Ritz. Both Ikki and Henry had parked their cars at the not too crowded front parking lot and went inside

The party was already underway as the whole dance floor seemed to be alive with the strobe lights moving up, down and sideways with the disco ball sparkling as it spun in its axis.

Everyone from their old neighborhood gang to the Gunner's Auxiliary was present and accounted for. All of them were dressed in their party clothes as they had sat in their designated tables around the dance floor.

Ikki was pulled by a nervous Zuru Zora who was sent by the girls to lead him to his seat nearest the stage's right side from the door (house right).

On stage, Koji had made a brief comical introduction before he started singing **"Escape – The Piña Colada Song"** by **Rupert Holmes**. All eyes had turned to his well-dressed wife sitting beside the duelist. She was trying to hide her blushing cheeks with her hands, albeit unsuccessfully.

After the song had ended, Koji had gone to Karin's unoccupied side to hold her in his arms and kiss her forehead.

He had also whispered in her ear that they would do the same thing that was suggested in the song's lyrics at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina when they would arrive at the National Seashore Park the following evening.

Her response was a high pitched squeal and hugging her husband tightly - saying thank you over and over.

Back on stage, Riou had taken over the job of master of ceremonies from his boss who was now sitting at Ikki's table along with Karin.

"If you guys thought that last song was good, you haven't seen anything yet." He then peeked at his cue card momentarily before continuing. "Our next performer's a good friend of mine if he wasn't such a pervert...so let's give a warm welcome to Tir Mcdohl."

Tir had headed up the stage and accepted the microphone from Riou as the audience had clapped their hands while laughing.

"The kid's a born comedian. No wonder, his girlfriend likes his company very much." he said to the still laughing crowd. "Before I could even start my bit, let me first dedicate this song to my own lovely wife, Kasumi. Just remember to keep your promise, honey."

Tir then belted out **"Glory of Love"** by **Peter Cetera **of **Chicago **fame.

-oOo-

Arika, who was in the girl's powder room with both Ellie and Kasumi as the latter two were putting on their costumes, had asked the elder girl what Tir had meant by his words on stage.

Kasumi just answered. "N-nothing. Just a bit of conversation between two adults, that's all."

Ellie then added her own two cents into the matter. "C'mon, 'Sumi. We're all girls here and besides there's nothing wrong in saying it."

"Oh, alright." Kasumi said with a sigh. "Tir now wants to become a father. Even though we've been married for five years now, we still haven't considered having any children yet. But when we saw that family of three in the stands cheering like mad for Ikki, we really got into thinking about having kids ourselves. I mean, we're all having a week's vacation starting tomorrow right?"

"Yeah, don't worry Kasumi. I'll cover for you if the need arises. I promise." Eilie said as she and Arika had embraced the now crying Kasumi.

"Thanks for the hug, girls. Now let's get our costumes ready, Eilie since we're the next ones to perform."

"You got it, Kasumi." The two young women had continued putting on their costumes and fixing their make up as they had heard the polite applause of the audience to Samantha's mini-ballet recital. Arika had also dried her own tears before fixing her make up.

-oOo-

Fifteen minutes later, the spotlight was now focused on two figures in the center of the stage.

The one on the right seemed to be wearing a monkey costume with a banana on her ample chest while the taller one on the left wore a poodle costume complete with a white hat where the fluffy ears hang loosely. Both held their wireless microphones tightly on their hands.

Pretty soon, the opening notes of the song "**Ganbalance de Dance**" by **Mayumi Gojyo **with **Flappy **and **Choppy **were heard around the stage. The two figures – Eilie on the right and Kasumi on the left had circled around so that they switched places.

The duo had sung the song karaoke style as they had performed the dance steps done by Saki Hyuuga and Mai Mishou of Pretty Cure Splash Star in both the anime series' and its movie's endings.

The song had ended when the two performers jumped in for joy as the cheers from the crowd were deafening to say the least. They also accidentally released their microphones in their glee causing both objects to fly in different directions.

The two airborne twirling projectiles had landed on both Spyke's and Rintaro's heads with a thump and a bit of feedback that had startled everyone.

Laughter had once again echoed throughout the club's interior at the amusing sight of the two young men rubbing their heads and hissing in pain as the audience had wiggled their fingers in their ears.

The two performers had quickly apologized to those hit by the rouge microphones as they had exited the stage and even kissed the bumps on their heads to make up for their mistakes.

The two "victims" were so happy at being kissed by two costumed goddesses (never mind if it was only on the bumps on their heads) that they did the **"Dance of Joy"** (popularized in the late 80's- early 90's TV show - **Perfect Strangers**) in the middle of the dance floor without realizing it.

The said act had elicited even more boisterous laughter from the audience.

After the laughter had died down, the show had continued with Hitomi's rendition of **"Yakusoku wa Irenai"** by **Maaya Sakamoto. **The crowd was floored by her singing; she was good enough to go professional if she had wanted to.

As Hitomi had finished, someone in the audience had asked her if she needed an agent for her new singing career.

"I'm sorry, but I like being a cop. While I was fifteen, I imagined myself as either an athlete or a singer, but a little voice in my head told me that I'm going to be a policewoman and well…here I am."

"Well, I'm glad that you are a cop, 'Tomi." shouted Van from the sidelines.

"Oh really, is it because I'm your partner or that you enjoy my company." said Hitomi, who had felt her cheeks suddenly heat up.

"Both, but also because you're the only girl I know who can keep up with me."

"With the frantic pace you're always setting, I can see why." she replied as she had stepped down from the stage on her way back to her partner/fiancé's side, her short brown hair blown by the wind of her own passing.

Finally, Arika had gotten a hold of the mike and sung **"Winners – English Version"** – by **Dynamite Shige**. As she sung, she had looked back at all the people in their seats watching her.

The sports columnist had known a few of them for years now and there were others who she had just met only yesterday. Yet all of them were now here enjoying the party in honor of their friend- Ikki Tenryou.

As she stepped down from the stage, Arika had noticed the said duelist was heading toward it. This had confused her since she was supposed to be the last singer of the program. Riou then announced that there was a surprise number from the duelist himself.

As Ikki stood on stage holding the microphone, he had thought of all the times he spent with the people around him and how they had contributed to his life.

"This song is dedicated to a certain childhood friend who is with you right now and it even tells our relationship in a nutshell." The duelist said with a slight blush.

He then sang his heart out in **"The Search is Over"** by **Jedd Maddela** of the group **Survivor**.

As Ikki had exited the stage, he was pounced on by a tearful Arika. The immediate effect was both of them falling on the dance floor with a loud thump.

His muscular arms had encircled the young woman's slim waist while stroking her hair with his left hand. His right hand simply stayed at the small of her back.

"I love you, Ikki Tenryou." she half-whispered as they had looked at each other's eyes.

"I love you too, Arika Amazake."

And the two lovers had remained lying on the dance floor, ignoring everyone else who went "Aww, how romantic" as the latter group had taken some candid shots with their digital cameras and cell phones for all posterity.

-oOo-

While everyone else were busy photographing the new couple who were on the verge of making out on the dance floor. Koji was talking to two men outside the club's delivery door. He had worn his Ray-Ban aviator glasses to hide his shiner from the general public who were just passing by.

"Thank you for delivering the audio system for the party especially on such a short notice, Junpei." he said to the heavy-set man on the right.

Standing on the said man's left side was a medium built young man around Riou's age with unruly brown hair that almost reached the middle of his neck.

"Aw, It was nothin' 'Taki and I couldn't handle." answered the rather large man named Junpei Shibayama as he had elbowed his brunet companion at the side. The brunet (Takuya Kanbarra) had scowled a bit at the elbow given but had caught himself and nodded to Koji instead.

"Nevertheless, you did good on your promise and for that, I am very grateful." Koji added as he had handed 25,000 dollars to each of the two members of the Last Frontier Courier Service.

"Thank you and it has been a pleasure to serve you, Mr. Karakuchi." Takuya replied as he had pocketed his share of the pay.

As Junpei and Takuya, had entered their blue Security Six van (General Motors Company Savanna Passenger Van LS G1500 with an auto cannon at its turret, a mine dropper with spider mines at the rear and two machine guns up front), the former had joked that the brunet could now actively pursue the hot blond Japanese-Italian girl they met in Las Vegas a year ago.

Takuya had taken offense to the joke and floored the accelerator as their van had taken to the streets along its way north to Memphis,Tennessee for their next courier job. Junpei had let a loud whoa before laughing heartily, ignoring the other motorists that were staring at him in an odd manner.

And that my friends, ends my tale of two people in the fast paced world of Dueltrack racing with a hint of what's to come in the next tale.

* * *

Well, that's it. Dueltrack is officially over. As with Bitch: Anime Car Wars Style before this story, my final cameos are those of the main characters for the next Anime Car Wars - Badlands Run.

The next time you will see those two Digimon Frontier characters will be in chapter one of that fanfiction in the Digimon section. And I do not own them, either. As for the Japanese-Italian girl's identity, there is no need to tell you now since you'll be meeting her in Badlands Run anyway.

To see the dance steps/moves Kasumi and Eilie made, please watch the YouTube videos of karretti7 and hao30 for the series ending and movie ending respectively.

The movie ending also shows the costumes that they wore, if you are that curious. The song itself is the full version which lasts around three minutes.

Surprise! Hitomi's voice actress had also sung the opening song in the Vision of Escaflowne series. And finally, Ikki is the best person to sing "The Search is Over" since this describes the romantic sub-plot between him and Arika in this fanfiction (and probably in the Medabots anime too).

For those wondering why the heck did I make the victory dance - The Dance of Joy. The answer is simple, it is simply the best victory dance there is. Besides, I love Perfect Strangers which sadly I do not own. (snaps fingers in disappointment)

I guess this is goodbye for now. I'll be seeing you guys in the next installment of Anime Car Wars. For now, this author's note is out of business until November.


End file.
